Funding from business, charities and overseas sources are all up with or ahead of the levels of comparable countries. As a consequence of the above the UK is the most efficient user of science funding by some margin. Output per person is the highest in the world. This suggests there is no further scope for efficiency gains. On the subject of contract research staff, Sir Robert did not see this as a problem per se , but management of the situation needs to be improved.
Tenure tends to be later in life than formerly, and also later than in other countries.
On paragraph 8, Sir Robert strongly agreed. The UK is the clear leader in international collaboration. Thinking of Europe he said there was a great need to cut bureaucracy. Questions from the floor followed. There is a danger that such people will be filtered out by safety first peer review.