It is critical that the education system provides young children with properly funded, high quality science education.  This initial enthusiasm must then be cultivated by ensuring that science is viewed as an attractive career choice. Alongside setting out our vision, practical action is needed as well.  That’s why we will:

• Invest a further £2.5bn a year in the education system directed at the most disadvantaged pupils in the form of a ‘pupil premium’.  This will improve the quality of maths and science education by reducing class sizes. 
• Expand the TeachFirst programme to get more top graduates in our classrooms, particularly in shortage subjects like maths and physics.
• Scrap university tuition fees so that access to higher education is based on an individual’s ability, not their bank balance
• Reform the existing bursary system for university students so that bursaries are awarded on the basis of studying strategic subjects (such as sciences and mathematics) as well as financial hardship.  This will promote the supply of skilled scientists that we need.
 
The current career structure in science is not letting talented young researchers make the most of their education, and this is a waste of resources. We would explore with stakeholders across the sector how these concerns could be addressed, by measures such as expanding the number of postdoctoral places, as well as making PhDs more industry-friendly, funded by reducing the surplus of under-utilised PhD places.
 
Liberal Democrats recognise that UK science needs long-term planning in order to be structurally viable and internationally competitive. We are therefore committed to not cutting science spending in the first year of the new Parliament. In the current economic climate it is not possible to commit to growth in spending and, as a matter of principle, the Liberal Democrats have ruled out guaranteeing spending commitments to any individual department until a full spending review has been undertaken and we are clearer about the scale of the reductions needed.  However, we are clear that rebalancing the economy is a key objective and the Liberal Democrats recognise the importance of science investment to economic recovery.  We also acknowledge the important contribution being made by the Technology Strategy Board and will seek to ensure that this continues. The honest reality is that public spending will be tight even for priority areas as we seek to rebuild the public finances onto a sustainable footing.  In this context, we need to make better use of the resources that we do have and introduce new mechanisms that support private sector funding. 
 
The UK has an excellent track record of generating innovative new ideas but frequently this knowledge is trapped within a university or other higher education institution.  We must develop more of these ideas to the point of commercial production.  We will encourage universities to work more closely with businesses, particularly SMEs, to combine the technical knowledge of academics with the business experience of local entrepreneurs. Commercialisation of new ideas is a risky business, more suited to being financed by equity than debt.  Sources of UK equity for small innovative manufacturers are scarce as existing UK markets do not serve smaller business well.  We will therefore support the creation of new mechanisms to provide smaller businesses with access to equity by connecting investors with businesses in their own region:

• Local Enterprise Funds - tax efficient investment vehicles to provide seed capital to start-up/early stage businesses as they commercialise their ideas
• Regional Stock Exchanges - regional platforms matching local investors with growing SMEs.   They will provide SMEs with cost effective access to equity through a simple operating model that meets the needs of smaller companies