Candidate for the chair of the Natural Environment Research Council announced
The government鈥檚 preferred candidate to be Chair of the Natural Environment Research Council has been selected
Sir Anthony Cleaver has been selected as the government鈥檚 preferred candidate to be Chair of the (NERC).
Sir Anthony is a former chair of the and is currently president of the .
The current chairman Ed Wallis steps down at the end of December.
The House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee will hold a pre-appointment hearing on 21 October 2013 and will report on Sir Anthony Cleaver鈥檚 suitability for this post.
Notes to editors
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NERC is the UK鈥檚 main agency for funding and managing world-class research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences. It coordinates some of the world鈥檚 most exciting research projects, tackling major issues such as climate change, food security, environmental influences on human health, the genetic make-up of life on earth, and much more. NERC receives around 拢300 million a year from the government鈥檚 science budget, which it uses to fund research and training in universities and its own research centres.
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Pre-appointment scrutiny hearings enable Select Committees to take evidence from candidates for certain key public appointments before they are appointed. Hearings are in public and involve the Select Committee publishing a report setting out their views on the candidate鈥檚 suitability for a post. Pre-appointment hearings are non-binding but Ministers will consider the Committee鈥檚 views before deciding whether to proceed with the appointment.
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The Chairs of the all of the Research Councils are listed as posts suitable for pre-appointment hearings. That list was published in the government鈥檚 response to the Liaison Committee鈥檚 First Special Report of Session 2007-08 (Liaison Committee, First Special Report of Session 2007-08, Pre-appointment hearings by Select Committees: Government Response, HC 594).