Government Scientist - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, government scientists are part of the Scientific Civil Service. However, that was not always the case. Before the Second World War, government scientists were recruited and employed by the Civil Service on an ad hoc basis, with grades, job titles, and organizations that varied between departments. In 1930, the Carpenter Committee was appointed to investigate the organization of civil service scientific and technical staff, and its report proposed a reorganization that covered the entire Service. This report was endorsed by the Tomlin Commission, however it was impossible to reach agreement with the relevant staff associations, who wanted other professional groups within the civil service to be similarly reorganized, and nothing ended up happening.

World War Two changed this by causing a far greater number of scientific and technical staff to be employed by the government. The Barlow Committee on Scientific Staff in Government Departments reviewed the positions of government scientists during wartime, issuing a report on 1943-04-23. This report spurred the creation of a government white paper, entitled The Scientific Civil Service, which resulted in a reorganization of government scientisgts across the entire Service. This reorganization classified governmenvnt scientists across the entire Service into three major classes similar to those civil servants for the Treasury had already been classified in:

Scientific Officer class

Grades of scientific officer began with Scientific Officer, and progressed through Senior, Principal, Senior Principal, Deputy Chief, and Chief Scientific Officers.

Experimental Officer class

Grades of experimental officer began with Assistant Experimental Officer, and progressed through Experimental Officer to Senior and then Chief Experimental Officers. Experimental officers were either university graduates or people who had qualifications such as the Higher National Certificate, and were support staff for Scientific Officers.

Scientific Assistant class

This class of civil servant undertook the routine work, and was largely equivalent to the Treasury's Clerical Class.