At Research Fortnight I have a critique up of the UK House of Lords report on departmental chief science advisers. The House of Lords report can be found here in PDF. Here is an excerpt:
[M]any of the recommendations in the House of Lords report on the role of chief scientific advisors in government, if implemented, will lead to a greater politicization of the advisory process and less accountability of government to citizens.

The basic flaw in the report is the assumption that science can be cleanly separated from the political process by empowering a heroic individual with special influence on policy making.
Please have a look and feel free to comment there or come back here and let me know what you think.