Department for Science, Information and Technology: Abolition

Lord Krebs Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right that we are talking about how technology and the advancements in it are going to fuel economic growth. That is a priority for the Government, as the Prime Minister has made clear. The prioritisation of that will come in the coming days, but our key here is about making sure that reindustrialisation, through these tools and using these levers, can work for every single corner of the United Kingdom, so that there is no longer a postcode lottery and that people have the opportunity to invest and make best use of these tools.

[Lord Krebs (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Con)]

My Lords—

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[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

It is the Cross Benches next, then we will come to the Conservative Benches.

[Lord Krebs (CB)]

I am grateful. My Lords, for those of us in the scientific community there is concern about the erosion of funding for basic discovery science, which, of course, is the bedrock of all future applications of science. Can the Minister provide reassurance that, in this reorganisation, UKRI will not reduce further the support for basic discovery science?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

I very much want to be able to reassure the noble Lord and can do so. The £9.22 billion that UKRI has for 2026-27 will continue to be distributed across three buckets: basic curiosity-driven research, foundational research, and research targeted to addressing strategic government and societal priorities, working to support the growth of innovative companies. That will remain the case.