Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish detailed information on the mechanism for replacing access to funding from the (a) European Research Council and (b) Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions through the Horizon 2020 scheme for UK research entities in the event that the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019 without a withdrawal agreement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
A ratified deal based on the provisions set out in the Withdrawal Agreement would ensure continued UK participation in EU Programmes, such as Horizon 2020, committed under the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), until the end of the programme and for the lifetime of projects.
As a responsible Government, we continue to prepare for a ‘No Deal’ scenario. To this end, the Government has committed to underwrite funding for all successful competitive UK bids submitted to Horizon 2020 before exit. In July 2018 this guarantee was extended to cover all successful competitive UK bids to Horizon 2020 calls open to third country participation from point of exit until the end of 2020. Both the guarantee and extension will apply for the lifetime of qualifying projects.
In a no deal scenario the UK would become a third country participant in Horizon 2020 after exit day. Third country participation is a well-established part of Horizon 2020 - entities from third countries currently participate in and lead consortia in a wide range of collaborative programmes. However, third country participation does not extend to the majority of the European Research Council (ERC) grants or some parts of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). We continue to work with stakeholders and Treasury (HMT) to identify appropriate measures that could be put in place in the period immediately after EU Exit, if needed.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to implement all 10 principles of Science Europe’s Open Access Coalition Plan S.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Plan S is a set of high-level principles which are in line with current UK Government policy and ambitions for Open Access (OA), and identify common ways to accelerate the implementation of OA to meet the European Competitiveness Councils target, set by ministers in 2016, of making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020. For these reasons, an economic impact assessment was not carried out.
UKRI was committed to a Review of OA policies before the announcement of Plan S, as part of its practice of monitoring and improving implementation of the policy. The purpose of the UKRI OA Review is to support delivery of UK government policy on OA to achieve the associated economic and social benefits and ensure the taxpayer secures maximum value for money from investment in publishing research. UKRI will consider Plan S principles within the broader aspects of the OA Review and where they support the delivery of UK OA policy.
Any implementation of Plan S principles by UKRI will be subject to the OA Review. This includes the Plan S principle around the standardisation of publication fees and funding across Europe. Costs and benefits around OA models and impacts arising from proposed changes will be considered as part of the OA Review, including sustainability, with wider economic impacts considered by BEIS. The OA Review will report in 2019.
On 27th November, the Coalition of funders that are working on Plan S issued further guidance and clarifications. In this they stated that they will be commissioning an independent study on publications costs and fees. The new implementation details and guidance to clarify Plan S principles are open for public feedback.
https://www.coalition-s.org/implementation-guidance-on-plan-s-now-open-for-public-feedback/
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on UK academic publishing exports of UK Research and Innovation signing up to Science Europe’s Open Access Coalition Plan S.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Plan S is a set of high-level principles which are in line with current UK Government policy and ambitions for Open Access (OA), and identify common ways to accelerate the implementation of OA to meet the European Competitiveness Councils target, set by ministers in 2016, of making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020. For these reasons, an economic impact assessment was not carried out.
UKRI was committed to a Review of OA policies before the announcement of Plan S, as part of its practice of monitoring and improving implementation of the policy. The purpose of the UKRI OA Review is to support delivery of UK government policy on OA to achieve the associated economic and social benefits and ensure the taxpayer secures maximum value for money from investment in publishing research. UKRI will consider Plan S principles within the broader aspects of the OA Review and where they support the delivery of UK OA policy.
Any implementation of Plan S principles by UKRI will be subject to the OA Review. This includes the Plan S principle around the standardisation of publication fees and funding across Europe. Costs and benefits around OA models and impacts arising from proposed changes will be considered as part of the OA Review, including sustainability, with wider economic impacts considered by BEIS. The OA Review will report in 2019.
On 27th November, the Coalition of funders that are working on Plan S issued further guidance and clarifications. In this they stated that they will be commissioning an independent study on publications costs and fees. The new implementation details and guidance to clarify Plan S principles are open for public feedback.
https://www.coalition-s.org/implementation-guidance-on-plan-s-now-open-for-public-feedback/
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment of standardising and capping open access publication fees on an EU-wide basis as part of the implementation of Science Europe’s Open Access Coalition Plan S.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Plan S is a set of high-level principles which are in line with current UK Government policy and ambitions for Open Access (OA), and identify common ways to accelerate the implementation of OA to meet the European Competitiveness Councils target, set by ministers in 2016, of making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020. For these reasons, an economic impact assessment was not carried out.
UKRI was committed to a Review of OA policies before the announcement of Plan S, as part of its practice of monitoring and improving implementation of the policy. The purpose of the UKRI OA Review is to support delivery of UK government policy on OA to achieve the associated economic and social benefits and ensure the taxpayer secures maximum value for money from investment in publishing research. UKRI will consider Plan S principles within the broader aspects of the OA Review and where they support the delivery of UK OA policy.
Any implementation of Plan S principles by UKRI will be subject to the OA Review. This includes the Plan S principle around the standardisation of publication fees and funding across Europe. Costs and benefits around OA models and impacts arising from proposed changes will be considered as part of the OA Review, including sustainability, with wider economic impacts considered by BEIS. The OA Review will report in 2019.
On 27th November, the Coalition of funders that are working on Plan S issued further guidance and clarifications. In this they stated that they will be commissioning an independent study on publications costs and fees. The new implementation details and guidance to clarify Plan S principles are open for public feedback.
https://www.coalition-s.org/implementation-guidance-on-plan-s-now-open-for-public-feedback/
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what economic impact assessment was conducted by his Department before United Kingdom Research and Innovation signed up to Science Europe’s Open Access Coalition Plan S.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Plan S is a set of high-level principles which are in line with current UK Government policy and ambitions for Open Access (OA), and identify common ways to accelerate the implementation of OA to meet the European Competitiveness Councils target, set by ministers in 2016, of making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020. For these reasons, an economic impact assessment was not carried out.
UKRI was committed to a Review of OA policies before the announcement of Plan S, as part of its practice of monitoring and improving implementation of the policy. The purpose of the UKRI OA Review is to support delivery of UK government policy on OA to achieve the associated economic and social benefits and ensure the taxpayer secures maximum value for money from investment in publishing research. UKRI will consider Plan S principles within the broader aspects of the OA Review and where they support the delivery of UK OA policy.
Any implementation of Plan S principles by UKRI will be subject to the OA Review. This includes the Plan S principle around the standardisation of publication fees and funding across Europe. Costs and benefits around OA models and impacts arising from proposed changes will be considered as part of the OA Review, including sustainability, with wider economic impacts considered by BEIS. The OA Review will report in 2019.
On 27th November, the Coalition of funders that are working on Plan S issued further guidance and clarifications. In this they stated that they will be commissioning an independent study on publications costs and fees. The new implementation details and guidance to clarify Plan S principles are open for public feedback.
https://www.coalition-s.org/implementation-guidance-on-plan-s-now-open-for-public-feedback/
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on whether companies are increasing the training opportunities available for their employees.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Data published in the UKCES Employer Skills Survey 2015 suggests that while total expenditure on training has increased between 2011 and 2015 the amount per employee has remained the same.
Total training expenditure and spend per person and per trainee 2011 - 2015
| Total (£bn) | Spend per trainee (£) | Spend per employee (£) |
2011 | 43.8 | 2,974 | 1,620 |
2013 | 43.0 | 2,560 | 1,600 |
2015 | 45.4 | 2,610 | 1,640 |
Employee Skills Survey 2015 (UKCES) Table A.5.13
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the proportion of expenditure spent by businesses on training.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
There are no known published estimates of the proportion of business expenditure spent by business on training however data published in the UKCES Employer Skills Survey 2015 provides details of the average numbers of training days and training expenditure per employee in the years 2011, 2013 and 2015.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will prioritise maintaining access to Horizon 2020 funding for UK researchers during negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
This Government wants the UK to be the go-to place for innovators and investors across the world, and we intend to secure the right outcome for the UK research base as we exit the European Union.
As my rt hon. Friend the Prime Minister has said, we would welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives. However it is too early to speculate on the UK’s future relationship with specific EU research programmes, including Horizon 2020 and successor programmes.
The Government is committed to ensuring the UK remains a world leader in international research and innovation.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what consideration has been given to supporting charity investment in universities through increasing investment in the Charity Research Support Fund.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government recognises the significant contribution made by charitable funders of research. The charity support element of Quality Related research funding, provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), recognises the public benefit arising from research funded by charities. Over the period 2011-17, HEFCE has protected support for institutions leveraging funding from the charitable sector and has provided £198m per annum for this through to 2016-17.
The “Allocation of Science and Research funding 2016 – 2020” confirmed the Government’s expectation that throughout this period HEFCE should continue to incentivise Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to work with businesses and charities, leveraging additional investment. It will be for the HEFCE Board to determine how much to provide for charity research support from within their overall research allocation for 2017-18, once they have received their annual Grant Letter from Ministers.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the British Business Bank's investment portfolio is invested in life science businesses.
Answered by Margot James
British Business Bank (BBB) equity programmes have invested over £37m in life science businesses since BBB became a PLC in November 2014. The BBB also manages a number of government programmes which were facilitating finance to businesses prior to November 2014. Including these, BBB equity programmes are currently investing over £130m of finance in life science businesses. Approximately 8% of the BBB’s total equity investment portfolio is invested in life science businesses.