The public has made it clear that they expect MPs to look at the evidence when making decisions[1]. Following a nationwide hunt for the evidence questions people think are most important, Evidence Week in Parliament 2025 will open on 3^rd November with constituents all over the UK in the driving seat in a reverse committee hearing, asking MPs about subjects, including electric vehicles, new drugs and working out tax.

Throughout the week, MPs are signed up to quickfire briefings from leading research institutions on many of those subjects, to get familiar with new findings and learn more about interrogating data– from cancer screening to hidden water pollution.

Tracey Brown, director of Sense about Science, said:

“Politicians don’t need to be scientists, but to be effective politicians in a world of major challenges, radical innovation and data, they clearly need to know science. They need to be ready to evaluate evidence critically, and as broadly as data on free school meals to methods for carbon capture.

“Researchers are stepping forward to help meet that challenge over Evidence Week in Parliament, and constituents are urging their MPs to find ten minutes in their busy schedules to get briefed on national and local issues.” 

Voters from across the UK will also get the chance to question the chairs of Parliament’s Select Committees about the evidence behind policies. In a unique ‘reverse’ committee hearing, senior MPs will take the hot seat to address the public’s concerns, including:

• If government uses AI to allocate services, how can MPs question those decisions?
• Are MPs aware of the evidence that smartphones and social media have a negative effect on children’s wellbeing?
• How do we ensure MPs quickly correct misleading information if an error is made when citing evidence?

The public’s questions were collected by the Sense about Science and community groups including Mumsnet, MoneySavingExpert and Shout Out UK. 

Rhiannon Evans, Head of Communications at Mumsnet, said:

“Taking part in Evidence Week is a great way to raise Mumsnset users’ concerns about evidence-based policy making with MPs - on everything from healthcare to restorative justice”

Voters will question the following Select Committees: Chi Onwurah MP (Chair, Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee), Bill Esterson MP (Chair, Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee), the Rt Hon. Lord Rooker (Lords Environment and Climate Committee), Karen Bradley MP (Chair, Home Affairs Select Committee), Debbie Abrahams MP (Chair, Work and Pensions Committee), Antonia Bance MP (Business and Trade Select Committee), Caroline Dinenage MP (Chair, Culture, Media and Sports Select Committee), Florence Eshalomi MP (Chair, Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee),  Helen Hayes MP (Chair, Education Committee), and Anna Dixon MP (Public Accounts Committee), and get advice from national experts, including Professor Sir Ian Chapman, CEO of UKRI, Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation, Office for National Statistics and Grant Hill-Cawthorne, the House of Commons Librarian, on how information is provided to government and parliament.

Evidence Week in Parliament 2025 is organised by Sense about Science in partnership with Mumsnet, MoneySavingExpert, Shout Out UK, the UK Statistics Authority, community partners and research institutions across the UK.

https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/programme-pdf/

Researchers from across the UK will give individual quickfire briefings to MPs and peers to help them get up to speed on current issues: https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/event/policy-briefings/

Parliamentary staff are given training by ONS, Ipsos,  House of Commons Library, FullFact and others: https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/event/parliamentary-training-sessions/

Evidence Week was launched in 2018 response to the public’s interest in policy evidence, with community groups and individuals wanting to know the justification for everything from rules on standing at football matches to which green technologies are subsidised. It builds on established research and information work in Parliament by POST and the Commons and Lords Libraries to support greater use of evidence by parliamentarians, and has since been emulated in other Parliaments including the EU.

https://senseaboutscience.org/evidence-week/

To attend Evidence Week, interviews or for further details please contact:

Valentina Moya, Sense about Science: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 07482972135

By JULIUS MBALUTO

A good number of leaders in Africa have a sense of what political leadership should be like. For example, a man or woman offers to be elected to lead his or her people. Driven by conviction to serve, they promise to deliver. As good leaders, they promise to be humble, they promise to always listen and attend to the needs of those who voted for them. A few , whom I will call the good ones, remember to honour their promises, however, most leaders don't. Instead , they keep campaigning and making more promises instead of delivering.

Leaders who strive to serve with integrity understand the essence of democracy. The word democracy could mean different things in different cultures and political contexts, but Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President in 1863 coined the phrase, democracy is the rule of the people, for the people and by the people. He was speaking following the Battle of Gettysburg during the American civil war. 

Going by the definition above, I found that good leaders always remember that leading is more about serving. Electorate will check you, entrust you, vote for you to be the custodian of their hopes and dreams. However, democracy in Africa has been tested again and again and the most dangerous trend doing rounds in Africa today is the habit of clinging to power. Take for examples recent concluded elections in Cameroon and Tanzania. 

President Paul Biya was born in 1933 and became Cameroon's President in 1982. At the age of 92 years and surrounded by a government members most of them his age-mate, he vies for presidency and wins to serve for more 8 years. Is it that Cameroonians love him so much that they cannot let him retire? Not really, the greatest curse to Africa's democracy today is clinging to power, wastage of tax payers money in different countries, conducting sham elections with pre-determined results, wanton rigging by cartels eying wealth of their nations to enrich themselves. They have no convictions to serve mankind. They are not driven from any ideological position to make a difference for the good of all. They are  in it for money.

A lot of people in Tanzania never got the chance to vote. Yet, several opposition leaders out of the race meant many could not vote because those they supported were not in the ballot box. Voting day was marked by protests. Yet, a winner will be announced after all the world witnessed happening. It's so sad to see, what's going on in Africa today. Africa needs a rebirth and ought to stand on a new foundation build on justice, fairness, true democracy, equality and inclusivity. Elections should matter and citizens needs to participate fully in politics and civic life. We should enforce laws across the continent to apply equally to all citizens regardless their status.

Election must count. We should aim to replace governments successfully through free and fair elections. On a different note, voters must exercise caution on who they vote for. Vote apathy should also be discouraged because failure to vote will still affect the outcome. Speaking on the importance of calling out wrongs in the society, Martin Luther King once said, 

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

So, we are saying, never hesitate to speak against wrongs you see. Your voice matters. 

African leaders must respect term limits, mentor future leaders and retire respectfully to allow peace to prevails. It is sad to watch what's going in Sudan, D R Congo, now Cameroon and Tanzania. Several other countries like Mali and Senegal embraced military take over. Its about time when African leaders rise and be counted as they embrace good governance across the continent.