Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership Fulfilling the potential identified in the Government's Life Sciences Vision, published on 24 January, what assessment they have made of its findings that since 2010, the UK has fallen from 4th to 98th place in overall trade balance in pharmaceuticals.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Life Sciences pharmaceutical manufacturing was responsible for $27.7bn exports in 2021. Official statistics from the Office for Life Sciences show that employment in core biopharmaceutical manufacturing employment declined between 2009 and 2019, but increased by 5% between 2019 and 2021. The Life Sciences Vision sets out an ambition to create a globally competitive environment for Life Science manufacturing investments. To help meet these ambitions, the Government launched the £60m Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund in March 2022 to incentivise globally mobile manufacturing investments in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for allocating the remaining £176 million of the Additional Funding Programme for Mathematical Sciences announced in January 2020.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Following the Government announcement to invest additional funding into mathematical sciences, BEIS published its funding allocations for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in May 2022. The total UKRI allocation as published was £25.1 billion for 2022-25, providing UKRI and its constituent councils with the funding needed to deliver world class research and innovation, including in the Mathematical Sciences.
The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council’s core funding for Mathematical Sciences will continue at the level of circa £25-30 million per annum for grants, fellowships, and studentships. This is alongside the £124 million Additional Funding Programme for Mathematical Sciences funding provided to support activities that have been started to date. UKRI will seek further opportunities to support mathematical research as it establishes a portfolio of investments
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to work with environmental and public health organisations when reviewing existing EU regulation.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is an enabling Bill that will give departments powers to amend, repeal or replace their retained EU law more easily. Any decisions regarding retained EU law will be for departmental ministers to take.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they have invested in mathematical sciences in each higher education institution in the UK for (1) teaching, and (2) research.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is a world leader in Mathematics, accounting for the 5th largest share of publications but the third largest share of the top 1% and 10% most cited publications.
Between Financial Year 2015-2016 and September 2021, EPSRC committed £259.9m to research grants Mathematical Sciences. This includes commitment from the Additional Funding Programme. At this current time, EPSRC are unable to make a direct comparison to international averages.
Following the Government’s announcement in January 2020 to invest additional funding into Mathematical Sciences, UKRI has awarded around £104 million of additional funding to the discipline, over and above EPSRC’s core Mathematical Sciences Theme budget. The additional funding has covered institutes, small and large research grants, fellowships, doctoral studentships and postdoctoral awards.
On the 27 October 2021, the Government will announce the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Once that has concluded, BEIS and UKRI will set out how we meet the commitment to invest additional funding into Mathematical sciences in forthcoming years, as part of the allocations process.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the breakdown of (1) actual, and (2) planned, expenditure of their £300 million investment in the mathematical sciences.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is a world leader in Mathematics, accounting for the 5th largest share of publications but the third largest share of the top 1% and 10% most cited publications.
Between Financial Year 2015-2016 and September 2021, EPSRC committed £259.9m to research grants Mathematical Sciences. This includes commitment from the Additional Funding Programme. At this current time, EPSRC are unable to make a direct comparison to international averages.
Following the Government’s announcement in January 2020 to invest additional funding into Mathematical Sciences, UKRI has awarded around £104 million of additional funding to the discipline, over and above EPSRC’s core Mathematical Sciences Theme budget. The additional funding has covered institutes, small and large research grants, fellowships, doctoral studentships and postdoctoral awards.
On the 27 October 2021, the Government will announce the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Once that has concluded, BEIS and UKRI will set out how we meet the commitment to invest additional funding into Mathematical sciences in forthcoming years, as part of the allocations process.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how much they have spent on mathematical sciences at higher education institutions in the UK, and (2) how this compares to the international average.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is a world leader in Mathematics, accounting for the 5th largest share of publications but the third largest share of the top 1% and 10% most cited publications.
Between Financial Year 2015-2016 and September 2021, EPSRC committed £259.9m to research grants Mathematical Sciences. This includes commitment from the Additional Funding Programme. At this current time, EPSRC are unable to make a direct comparison to international averages.
Following the Government’s announcement in January 2020 to invest additional funding into Mathematical Sciences, UKRI has awarded around £104 million of additional funding to the discipline, over and above EPSRC’s core Mathematical Sciences Theme budget. The additional funding has covered institutes, small and large research grants, fellowships, doctoral studentships and postdoctoral awards.
On the 27 October 2021, the Government will announce the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Once that has concluded, BEIS and UKRI will set out how we meet the commitment to invest additional funding into Mathematical sciences in forthcoming years, as part of the allocations process.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the research of all forms of mathematics at universities in England.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In academic year 2020-21, Research England allocated £66.4 million to Mathematical Sciences. This financial year the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is forecasting a spend of £50.975 million on Mathematical Sciences research in English universities. Plans for funding for future years will be dependent on the outcome of the recently announced Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote the study and research of mathematics at universities in England.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In academic year 2020-21, Research England allocated £66.4 million to Mathematical Sciences. This financial year the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is forecasting a spend of £50.975 million on Mathematical Sciences research in English universities. Plans for funding for future years will be dependent on the outcome of the recently announced Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) pressure from activist groups, and (2) decisions not to allow academics to speak at universities, on the amount of research commissioned by universities into the number (a) of girls presenting with gender dysphoria at clinics, and (b) of people who regret that they undertook medical treatment for their gender dysphoria; and what steps, if any, they intend to take in response.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Universities are independent, autonomous organisations and are therefore responsible for their decisions relating to research priorities and which activities to support.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that Amazon staff working on the contract with Amazon to provide health data from the NHS will receive a living wage and be treated with dignity and decency.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government is committed to ensuring fair pay and we are clear that all workers should be treated with dignity and decency. We have announced that in April 2020 the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 6.2 per cent to £8.72 for those aged 25 and over. This increase will mean that a full-time worker will see their pay increase by £930 over the year.
The Government considers the expert and independent advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) when setting the rates. The LPC draws on a wide range of analysis to make its recommendations – this includes independent research, stakeholder evidence and a consideration of impacts on businesses.
Workers who believe that they have been underpaid the minimum wage or treated unfairly at work may wish to contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration service (Acas) for impartial information and advice.