Science is a thing we need more of, especially in public policy.

Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh

“Housing, IVF treatment, species monitoring, special needs education and road safety policies are just a few of the life-defining issues where affected communities struggle repeatedly to get decision-makers to pay attention to the evidence. These groups often run ahead of government in engaging expertise, self-educating and gathering data so decisions can be reasoned on the facts. For example, by demonstrating the effects of “mini-Holland” street schemes, the London Cycling Campaign has rebuffed claims they cause gridlock. The beekeepers of Somerset have engaged Exeter University to monitor hornet invasions and build a databank.

We are not living in a “post-truth” society. We only need to look around at the many people and groups from all walks of life who are investigating claims and marshalling evidence to work out the nature of problems and how to tackle them. They expect parliament to be doing the same.

That is why the first “evidence week” in the UK parliament, opening on Monday, is not some esoteric conversation between analysts and MPs but a national victory. Community groups from all over the UK will share personal stories of why evidence matters to them and others like them. A gym instructor is raising the absence of standards in claims about supplements; Aberdeen Multicultural Centre thinks evidence on climate change has cut through its community’s differences; Men’s Shed in Sheffield is asking for better knowledge about loneliness in older men.

They are calling for parliament to make good use of evidence and expertise to shape regulations and to test them in the light of new information.”