Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology  The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. POST (rather distinctively) serves BOTH Houses of Parliament (the House of Commons and equally the House of Lords) as a joint establishment, through output that is apolitical and of widely acclaimed value to Parliamentarians of all parties. Thorough quality-control ensures that MPs and Peers can have confidence in its analyses should they wish to cite them in debate. These principles are reflected in the structure of POST’s Board with members from the Commons and Lords together with distinguished scientists and engineers from the wider world. Since 1939, a group of MPs and peers interested in science and technology, through the first parliamentary "All Party Group", the UK Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (P&S), had encouraged UK Parliamentarians to explore the implications of scientific developments for society and public policy. As the UK economy became more dependent on technological progress, and the varied effects of technology (especially on the environment) became more apparent, it was felt that UK Parliament needed its own resources on such issues. Parliamentarians not only required access to knowledge and insights into the implications of technology for their constituents and society, but also needed to exercise their scrutiny functions over UK government legislation and administration. This thinking was also influenced by the fact that specialised parliamentary science and technology organisations already existed overseas. P&S members (Sir Ian Lloyd MP, Sir Trevor Skeet MP, Sir Gerry Vaughan MP, Lords Kennet, Gregson and Flowers among others) visited already established organisations in the US, Germany and France, and this reinforced their view that modern Parliaments needed their own ‘intelligence’ on science and technology-related issues. Initially they asked the then Thatcher government to fund such services at Westminster but were asked first to demonstrate a real need. This led to the P&S creating a charitable foundation to raise funds from P&S members. The parliamentary reaction was positive and led to the appointment of a first Director, Dr Michael Norton. In 1989, POST was formally established as a charitable foundation, though not an internal part of Parliament. POST had attracted more resources by 1992 and then recruited 3 specialist science advisers and began its fellowship programme with the UK research councils. In 1992 the House of Commons Information Committee, supported by the House of Lords, recommended that Parliament should itself fund POST for 3 years, and a subsequent review in 1995 extended this for a further 5 years.