It seems likely that this is an attempt to cut "costs" in the traditional manner, combine "departments" and when anyone says such and such a department has less money use the total figure for funding for all combined departments vs the old funding for 1 department to claim they have massively increased funding. Cynical? Me?
Mark Walport was director of the Wellcome Trust when the Science Media Centre were doing their most to spin results from PACE and stigmatise the patients pointing out problems with it. He was also a part of the appalling coverage on Radio 4 that the Science Media Centre engineered: http://www.meassociation.org.uk/201...n-on-bbc-radio4-today-programme-29-july-2011/ Just before this biased and misleading coverage on the BBC Walport had been critical of the BBC's ‘impartiality at any cost’. http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-bbc-trust-review-of-science-2/
Wessely was pleased about Walport's appointment: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/e...t-being-appointed-as-chief-executive-of-ukri/ Blakemore praises his 'political acumen': http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/e...ent-chief-scientific-advisor-in-april-2013-2/