Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the factors contributing to the decline in life sciences foreign direct investment to the UK between 2021 and 2022 and of the associated fall from second to ninth of 18 comparator countries for inward life sciences direct investment since 2021.

The Government is committed to making the UK an attractive place for investment in Life Sciences. Recent changes to R&D tax relief and to capital allowances announced in the Spring budget have significantly improved the UK offer to foreign direct investment (FDI). FDI data – including both the Life Sciences Competitiveness Indicators and the inward investment results from the Department for Business and Trade – can display large year-on-year variations that are not representative of broader trends. Between 2012 and 2022 inward investment into the sector increased by 193%.