Chi Onwurah

In August 2020 the Cabinet Office launched a recruitment campaign for a Government Chief Digital Officer, whose role will be to ensure we can realise the government’s ambition to make UK Government digital services the best in the world. Throughout this time the Government Digital Data and Technology function and Government Digital Service have continued to deliver critical services and expert advice.

The Government’s Data Ethics Framework and ‘Guide to Using AI in the Public Sector’, alongside other guidance are available on GOV.UK, to support ethical and safe use of algorithms in the public sector. Building on existing work on algorithmic and data ethics, the Government is now seeking to deliver more transparency on the use of algorithmic-assisted decision making within the public sector; and is working with leading organisations in the field of data and AI ethics on a proposed approach to algorithmic transparency.

The Government’s Data Ethics Framework and ‘Guide to Using AI in the Public Sector’, alongside other guidance are available on GOV.UK, to support ethical and safe use of algorithms in the public sector. Building on existing work on algorithmic and data ethics, the Government is now seeking to deliver more transparency on the use of algorithmic-assisted decision making within the public sector; and is working with leading organisations in the field of data and AI ethics on a proposed approach to algorithmic transparency.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a strategic supplier to the Government. As a strategic supplier, AWS is asked to complete the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool annually.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Tom Read was appointed as CEO of Government Digital Service following an external recruitment overseen by the Civil Service Commission. The selection panel included the Civil Service Chief Operating Officer, the Director General for Digital and Media Policy, Jacqueline De Rojas, and a Civil Service Commissioner.

Joanna Davinson was transferred within the Civil Service, and Paul Willmott was a direct appointment to an advisory role.

I refer the hon. Member to the list of Ministerial Responsibilities published here.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Cabinet Office seeks to ensure that government organisations choose the right technology to meet their diverse hosting and cloud technology needs. Departments are required to follow the Technology Code of Practice when choosing a cloud provider. Public sector organisations can use the Digital Marketplace frameworks to purchase cloud services, hosting technology and support from a wide range of suppliers including many small and medium enterprises.

Data on government spending with suppliers is available on the Crown Commercial Service website. Departments also publish spend data on GOV.UK and are responsible for their own hosting decisions.

As part of the One Government Cloud Strategy, the government has already agreed a number of Memorandums of Understanding with suppliers including UKCloud, Microsoft, IBM, Google and AWS.

The Government is assessing the need for any actions arising from the Schrems II decision. Further announcements will be made in the usual way.

Data on government spending with suppliers is available on the Crown Commercial Service website. Departments also publish spend data on GOV.UK and are responsible for their own hosting decisions.

As part of the One Government Cloud Strategy, the government has already agreed a number of Memorandums of Understanding with suppliers including UKCloud, Microsoft, IBM, Google and AWS.

The Government is assessing the need for any actions arising from the Schrems II decision. Further announcements will be made in the usual way.

Data on government spending with suppliers is available on the Crown Commercial Service website. Departments also publish spend data on GOV.UK and are responsible for their own hosting decisions.

As part of the One Government Cloud Strategy, the government has already agreed a number of Memorandums of Understanding with suppliers including UKCloud, Microsoft, IBM, Google and AWS.

The Government is assessing the need for any actions arising from the Schrems II decision. Further announcements will be made in the usual way.

The Cabinet Office reviews the diversity of supply of government hosting and cloud services.

Departments are required to follow the Technology Code of Practice when choosing a cloud provider. Departments must show that they have chosen the technology which provides the best value for money while meeting user needs.

Details of spend with cloud hosting providers is available on the G-Cloud dashboard.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to PQ96061.

The Government published the updated Border Operating Model on 8 October. The document outlines the processes and systems required to move goods between GB and the EU from 1 January onwards, as well as the changes due in April and July of 2021 respectively.

As has been the case under successive administrations, the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code sets out relevant conduct standards.

Government Digital Service (GDS) leads the Government’s Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function. The GDS Academy provides training.

Regarding cyber skills, I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQs 53531 and 52225 on 09 June 2020. Details of funding are published in the Cabinet Office annual reports.

As the Government has previously stated, it is difficult for a single model or scenario to capture the varying impacts that will be felt across different parts of the economy. We want to stimulate and capture the widest possible range of analysis from economists and academics to businesses and civil society groups. As such, the Government intends to invite contributions in due course about the economic implications of the future relationship.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 59762 on 23 June 2020.

The economic impacts of our trade deal with the EU are already the subject of a thriving public debate.

A Written Ministerial Statement (HCWS271) made by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 8 June updated on the progress of negotiations.

We will continue to keep Parliament informed with appropriate analysis at appropriate times.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 33512 on 21 April 2020.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

National and local governments are using messaging to mobile phones as part of its COVID-19 communications campaign to ensure people across the UK continue to adhere to the guidance to 'stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives.' This has included the Government sending a message to all mobile phone users to highlight the new rules in force. Local health providers, such as GP surgeries, are also using mobile messaging to advise people of revised ways to access health care services.

This Government has invested £1.68m in communications initiatives to counter disinformation since March 2018. These initiatives include the RESIST toolkit which helps public organisations respond to disinformation campaigns, and the 'Don’t Feed the Beast' behaviour change campaign to educate and empower those who see, inadvertently share and are affected by false and misleading information.

The Government regularly monitors the performance and financial health of all our strategic suppliers, including those in the IT sector which include DXC Technology.

We remain in regular discussions with DXC’s leadership team on the execution of their new strategy and continue to monitor their performance on Government contracts.

DXC appointed a new CEO in September 2019 who has launched a new strategy.

Quantum computing; 5G technologies and artificial intelligence are all areas which offer significant economic opportunities to the UK, as well as risks to our national cyber security that need to be managed.

Our development of Quantum Computing is funded by combined public and private investment through the UK’s ten year National Quantum Technologies Programme (NQTP).

Our current National Cyber Security Strategy (2016-2021) is delivering transformational change, building new capabilities and intervening to address the cyber threat. It is supported by £1.9bn investment designed to transform our resilience and continue to build our position as an innovative and expert world leader in cyber security.

The government's Sector Deal for AI launched in April 2018 and outlined a package of support for the sector.

This Government is committed to being open in their dealings with the press and to the principles of media freedom.

Ministers from across Government have appeared on and been interviewed by a wide range of media on a daily basis and have spent time speaking directly to the British public in other ways.

This Government is committed to being open in their dealings with the press and to the principles of media freedom.

Ministers from across Government have appeared on and been interviewed by a wide range of media on a daily basis and have spent time speaking directly to the British public in other ways.

There are no changes to the commercial agreements of levels of service with UK Government digital identity providers as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

The Government’s response to the digital identity consultation (Call for Evidence) will be published in due course.

Verify is delivered with private sector providers and next steps will be announced in the usual manner.

An extensive response to the PAC report was published in October 2019 and can be found at CP 176 – Treasury Minutes Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts.

There are no changes to the commercial agreements of levels of service with UK Government digital identity providers as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

The Government’s response to the digital identity consultation (Call for Evidence) will be published in due course.

Verify is delivered with private sector providers and next steps will be announced in the usual manner.

An extensive response to the PAC report was published in October 2019 and can be found at CP 176 – Treasury Minutes Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts.

There are no changes to the commercial agreements of levels of service with UK Government digital identity providers as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

The Government’s response to the digital identity consultation (Call for Evidence) will be published in due course.

Verify is delivered with private sector providers and next steps will be announced in the usual manner.

An extensive response to the PAC report was published in October 2019 and can be found at CP 176 – Treasury Minutes Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts.

There are no changes to the commercial agreements of levels of service with UK Government digital identity providers as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

The Government’s response to the digital identity consultation (Call for Evidence) will be published in due course.

Verify is delivered with private sector providers and next steps will be announced in the usual manner.

An extensive response to the PAC report was published in October 2019 and can be found at CP 176 – Treasury Minutes Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts.

There are no changes to the commercial agreements of levels of service with UK Government digital identity providers as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

The Government’s response to the digital identity consultation (Call for Evidence) will be published in due course.

Verify is delivered with private sector providers and next steps will be announced in the usual manner.

An extensive response to the PAC report was published in October 2019 and can be found at CP 176 – Treasury Minutes Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts.

Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published quarterly on GOV.UK.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer which I gave to PQ 1802 on 29 January 2020.

There are no local elections scheduled to take place in Northern Ireland in 2020.

The Scottish Parliament is responsible for the franchise for local elections in Scotland and elections to the Scottish Parliament.

The Government recognises the impact the pandemic has had on hospitality businesses including independent pubs. That is why we have provided an unprecedented support package of £352 billion including grants, loans, business rates relief, VAT cuts and the job retention scheme. In order to help pubs recover and reopen, we are providing restart grants of up to £18,000.

Our association to Horizon will give UK scientists and innovators access to the largest collaborative research funding scheme in the world.

The UK has agreed to participate in the whole of the Horizon Europe programme, except the European Innovation Council Fund.

The work programmes for parts of Horizon Europe have not been finalised by the EU, however under the Horizon Europe regulations, access to calls may be restricted to entities established in EU Member States in certain cases. We expect these cases to be exceptional.

We engage with the Commission on a range of topics relating to Horizon Europe, including supporting research collaboration between the UK and EU, timing of funding opportunities under Horizon Europe and potential exclusions.

Our association to Horizon will give UK scientists and innovators access to the largest collaborative research funding scheme in the world.

The UK has agreed to participate in the whole of the Horizon Europe programme, except the European Innovation Council Fund.

The work programmes for parts of Horizon Europe have not been finalised by the EU, however under the Horizon Europe regulations, access to calls may be restricted to entities established in EU Member States in certain cases. We expect these cases to be exceptional.

We engage with the Commission on a range of topics relating to Horizon Europe, including supporting research collaboration between the UK and EU, timing of funding opportunities under Horizon Europe and potential exclusions.

I am grateful to have the paper brought to my attention. The National Cyber Security Centre continue to focus on the security and reliability of computer systems and conduct research, working with research institutes, in order to maintain and develop current understanding.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

In designing ARIA, we have considered international comparators including the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US. DARPA benefits from autonomy and flexibility outside the standard government contracting and granting standards. Flexibility is a core element of the DARPA model, and its history of success in the US.

ARIA is not intended to replicate DARPA - but DARPA has flexibilities that will benefit ARIA in the UK context.

On the basis the available data, which is limited to evidence from: Capital IQ on mergers and acquisitions with a value of £1 million and above; Pitchbook on transactions with a value below £1 million, and; Orbis on the number of indirect mergers and acquisitions, the removal of the 15% mandatory notification threshold from the National Security and Investment Bill is assessed as de minimis. Nonetheless, we do expect this to reduce the number of acquisitions subject to mandatory notification.

ARIA will have an open remit, with maximum autonomy over what it chooses to fund. Its focus will be on finding and funding transformational science and technology, wherever it exists.

ARIA’s budget commitment of £800m up to 2024/25 is expected to represent less than 2% of the Government’s current total annual R&D investment over the same period.

The numbers of Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests received and completed since UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) was established in April 2018 are:

*cases received at the end of 2019 were closed in the beginning of 2020.

UKRI does not record the costs of responding to individual FOI requests.

ARIA is an addition to the public funding landscape and will exclusively focus on projects with potential to produce transformative technological change, or a paradigm-shift in an area of science.

ARIA will have an open remit, with maximum autonomy over what it chooses to fund. The additional funding stream will complement existing publicly or privately funded research for cutting edge science and technology. However, ARIA’s streamlined structure, minimal bureaucracy and financial flexibility will mean ARIA can fund this research in new and creative ways, delivering to researchers in the way that best supports their work.

We expect ARIA to be operational from Spring 2022.

ARIA’s leadership will have the autonomy to choose which programmes they fund and how they fund them to best deliver long-term, transformational advances in science and technology. As detailed in the ARIA Bill, in exercising its functions ARIA will have regard to the desirability of:

1. contributing to economic growth, or an economic benefit, in the United Kingdom,
2. promoting scientific innovation and invention in the United Kingdom,
3. improving the quality of life in the United Kingdom (or in the United Kingdom and elsewhere).

BEIS will not set specific criteria for strategic funding decisions or for the goals of Programme Managers.

The spending profile for ARIA will be for the leadership of ARIA to develop.

The Government has set out plans at Spending Review to cement the UK’s status as a global leader in science and innovation by investing £14.9 billion in R&D in 2021/22. This investment supports our commitments set out in the R&D Roadmap as we build towards UK R&D investment of 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

Leveraging investment from the private sector will be vital to reach the 2.4% target and achieve our ambitions for innovation. The Government has already set out at Budget a range of measures to boost private investment in research and development, including a review of R&D tax reliefs, supported by a consultation with stakeholders, and £375 million to introduce Future Fund: Breakthrough, a new direct co-investment product to support the scale up of the most innovative, R&D-intensive businesses.

The Government is also establishing the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), focusing exclusively on high-risk, high-reward research with a budget of £800m up to 2024/25. ARIA projects will be able to attract private co-financing as part of a new and creative approach to funding.

These developments will complement our existing incentives for private R&D investment and, as the Plan for Growth set out at Budget, BEIS will also publish an Innovation Strategy this summer with a view to providing the private sector the confidence to invest as we look to Build Back Better.

ARIA is being established to pursue long-term research that has a transformational impact over many years. As it always has done, BEIS will continue to work with HM Treasury to manage multi-year commitments against fiscal budgeting cycles.

The open recruitment campaigns for ARIA’s first Chair and CEO will launch this spring and there is no intention to make any interim appointments.

I refer the Hon. Member to the reply I gave on 30th March 2021 to Question 173012.

Valuation Office Agency data identified the number of rate-paying businesses in scope for LRSG (Open) in the sectors and local authority areas where this scheme was applicable. This was done on the basis of Special Category (SCAT) code data which classifies properties by use.

In recognition that there are businesses, such as market traders, that aren’t on the business rates register, the Additional Restrictions Grant has been made available to Local Authorities to provide discretionary support to businesses including those t not on the business rates register.

The challenging financial situation we face due to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a temporary reduction in the UK’s aid spending target from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%. This means making difficult decisions when it comes to prioritising how we spend aid money to deliver the most impactful outcomes.

BEIS is working with its ODA Delivery Partners to manage the implementation of the 21/22 ODA settlement for R&D; this includes the Royal Society who run the FLAIR programme.

ARIA will fund research in new ways across areas, industries, or technologies. ARIA will not have its research focus set by Ministers. Following an open and robust recruitment process, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State will appoint an exceptional and visionary leadership team and entrust them to set the research agenda for ARIA.

While ARIA will not be given an overarching ‘mission’ by Government, ARIA’s programmes will each be motivated by a single, clear ambition set by the programme manager. Research projects and funding decisions will all be motivated by that clear programme goal.

The Government is committed to continuing to provide financial support via Local Authorities for business premises that are required to close, or which are severely affected by the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 and save lives.

For businesses in Tier 2 and Tier 3, funding was made available to Local Authorities to provide discretionary grants via the Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) (Open). When the national lockdown was announced on 5 January, the LRSG (Open) was replaced by the LRSG (Closed) Addendum: 5 January onwards. From 1 April, the LRSG will be replaced by Restart Grants to support businesses as they begin to reopen.

Discretionary grants – the LRSG (Open) and the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) - are formula based. Data on Government allocations to, and payments by, Local Authorities, of the LRSG (Open) and other Government Business Support Grants, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.

The link provided in the answer given to Question 162599 was a link to local authority level allocations summary which required you to click through to the guidance released on the methods for calculating allocations for the Additional Restrictions Grant and Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open). The direct links to the relevant guidance is as below.

For the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), guidance sets out the original method for allocating funds: ‘Local Authorities will receive a one-off lump sum payment amounting to £20 per head in each eligible Local Authority when LCAL 3 or widespread national restrictions are imposed.’

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/966854/20210304_Additional_Restrictions_Grant_-_LA_guidance.pdf

For the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) covering the periods of local restrictions between 1^st August to 5^th November and 2^nd December to 5^th January the guidance sets out that funding was allocated on the basis of Valuation Office Agency data on the number of businesses in scope in those areas of England subject to local Covid restrictions for the period in question.

Guidance for the 1^st August to 5^th November period can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/966860/20210304_Local_Restrictions_Support_Grant__OPEN__applicable_1_Aug_-_5_Nov_-_LA_guidance.pdf.

Guidance for the 2^nd December to 5^th January period can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/966858/20210304_Local_Restrictions_Support_Grant__OPEN__applicable_2_December_-_LA_guidance.pdf.

In the single year Spending Review covering financial year 2021-2022, the Government committed to provide the first £50 million in funding for ARIA related activities, and a total £800 million investment by 2024-25.

The precise year-on-year allocations for ARIA after 2021-22 will be determined for, and announced in, forthcoming Spending Reviews.

BEIS officials have been working on the high-level design features of ARIA to support delivery of the ARIA Bill, and delivery of a forthcoming framework agreement between ARIA and BEIS. This said, it is by design that certain operational details are left at the discretion of the independent body.

The Government is monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on private sector research and development through surveys - such as the Enterprise Research Centre’s work on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the status of Innovate UK award holders, published at https://www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk/publications/assessing-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-innovate-uk-award-holders-survey-and-case-study-evidence-wave-2-october-november-2020/ .

Office for National Statistics data on R&D performed in UK Businesses in 2020 is planned for release toward the end of 2021. This will help us to assess the effect of the pandemic on R&D investment levels.

We remain committed to increasing UK investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. The Government set out plans at Spending Review to invest £14.6 billion in R&D in 2021/22.

Leveraging investment from the private sector will be vital to reach the 2.4% target and achieve our ambitions for innovation. The Government has already set out at Budget a range of measures to boost private investment in research and development, including a review of R&D tax reliefs, supported by a consultation with stakeholders, and £375 million to introduce Future Fund: Breakthrough, a new direct co-investment product to support the scale up of the most innovative, R&D-intensive businesses. These developments will complement our existing incentives for private R&D investment.

As set out in ‘Building Back Better: our Plan for Growth’, we are developing an Innovation Strategy, which will be published in the summer. The Strategy will consider how we can boost innovation across the UK economy to increase productivity and tackle our biggest social and economic challenges.

In order to maximise the economic and environmental opportunities of the transition to zero emission vehicles, the UK Government is supporting the creation of a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries.

This includes supporting the innovation, infrastructure, and regulatory environment for a UK battery recycling industry, including reuse in second life applications (such as energy storage) and development of efficient recycling techniques to extract maximum value.

The Government has allocated £318m to the Faraday Battery Challenge which is playing a leading role in promoting the reuse and recycling of battery components. The Faraday Institution’s £10 million ‘ReLib’ (Reuse and Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries) research project is developing the technological, economic and legal infrastructure to allow high percentages of the materials in lithium-ion batteries at the end of their first life to be reused or recycled.

The Automotive Transformation Fund has been designed to support strategic investments in the electric vehicle supply chain, the scope of which includes battery recycling facilities.

Research and development (R&D) are central to igniting the UK’s economic recovery, creating new jobs, boosting productivity, and improving people’s quality of life. New technologies will bring more productive, higher paid jobs to the whole economy.

We are increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22. This investment will put research and development at the heart of economic and social recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, enabling us to build back better for a greener, healthier and more resilient UK.

We are working closely with all our delivery partners to understand the impact of the settlement on universities and other research institutions. We are also engaging with our partners to develop the 2021/22 allocations and help them plan implementation.

We aim to update our partners on 2021/22 funding as soon as possible.

Research and development (R&D) are central to igniting the UK’s economic recovery, creating new jobs, boosting productivity, and improving people’s quality of life. New technologies will bring more productive, higher paid jobs to the whole economy.

We are increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22. This investment will put research and development at the heart of economic and social recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, enabling us to build back better for a greener, healthier and more resilient UK.

We are working closely with all our delivery partners to understand the impact of the settlement on universities and other research institutions. We are also engaging with our partners to develop the 2021/22 allocations and help them plan implementation.

We aim to update our partners on 2021/22 funding as soon as possible.

The Government engages closely with businesses and local partners to understand the impact of Covid-19 across all sectors of the economy.

Substantial grant support has been made available throughout the pandemic including to those businesses with a rateable value of £51,000 and above.

Where those businesses are currently required by law to close, the Local Restrictions Support Grant enables local authorities to make grant payments of the equivalent of £4,500 per six-week period of closure.

Businesses with a rateable value above £51,000 that were required by law to close at the beginning of the January lockdown are also able to access one-off grants of £9,000 through the Closed Business Lockdown Payment.

My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that a further iteration of grants will be made available to enable businesses to reopen as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Restart Grants will offer businesses further one-off grants of up to £18,000. Further details will be made available in due course.

BEIS has received a one-year Spending Review settlement along with all other departments. The Investment Security Unit will have the necessary resources to deliver the National Security and Investment regime.

Great Britain has one of the most robust energy systems in the world and maintaining a secure electricity supply is a key priority for the Government.

The Department works extensively with National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) and other infrastructure operators, to ensure that the impacts of a severe space weather event are well understood, and the appropriate steps are taken to ensure the sector’s preparedness for major space weather events.

NGESO has robust plans in place, which are constantly reinforced based on the latest science and information, to mitigate against high impact risks, including solar storms. In recent years, National Grid has increased the number of spare transformers that they hold so that damaged equipment can be promptly replaced, continue to introduce a new design of transformers which are operationally more resistant to the effects of space weather and undertaking emergency exercises aimed at improving knowledge, resilience, and response capability.

In order to improve our ability to predict and mitigate the hazards of space weather, in October 2019 the UK Government announced a £20m boost to predict severe space weather events. This nearly quadruples investment from government into research that can improve systems at the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre. This will further build the UK’s knowledge on how to forecast and better prepare for these space weather events.

Early in the existence of the Vaccine Taskforce, public communication on vaccines was identified as a key challenge for the successful delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. The Government strengthened its communication function to support this significant undertaking and communication specialists sourced by Admiral (with experience in clinical trials and of working with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)) were brought onboard using the Public Sector Resourcing framework.

The communication specialists sourced by Admiral worked with the NIHR to develop the world’s first national citizen registry so that individuals could sign up to participate in clinical vaccine trials. As a result, over 454,000 people have signed up to date.

Admiral was also involved in creating a proactive communications programme aimed at encouraging greater sign-up to the registry through the “COVID-19: the search for a vaccine” podcast. This provided a factual transparent source of information on vaccines for UK citizens, combating the anti-vaccination movement, and highlighting the UK's role as a leader in vaccine research and development. The podcast included an episode that specifically covered the need to include people from the Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities in trials and addressed some of the concerns within these communities.

The Investment Screening Unit (ISU) will have the necessary resources to deliver the National Security and Investment regime and will draw on expertise and skills held across government and security services.

The Government understands the role data plays in delivering benefits in the public and private sectors and the UK has traditionally maintained high quality address data that supports a wide range of uses across the economy.

The Postcode Address File (PAF), owned and maintained by Royal Mail Group, is the definitive list of postal delivery points for the UK and a key enabler of the Universal Service Obligation.

The PAF provides access to the private sector on reasonable terms, which are regulated by Ofcom, with free access to small charities and microbusinesses in their first year. On 1 April 2020, the Government extended the PAF Public Sector Licence for a further 3 years to ensure free at the point of use access to PAF data for all public sector organisations to support the delivery of effective and efficient public services.

UK Research and Innovation has made commitments totalling £100m from within this programme to date. £8m of this is currently allocated for this financial year. This includes £1.76m for PhD Studentships, the first cohort of which had 146 PhD students starting in October 2020 with 29% of these supported under increased residency eligibility flexibility afforded to international students.

The UK is a world leader in space weather forecasting and the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre provides forecasts and warnings of space weather on a 24/7 basis.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are responsible for the most severe space weather. Preliminary warnings are issued at least 12 hours in advance for the fastest CMEs. Certainty over the magnitude of an event and its impacts is dependent on critical measurements as the CME passes over monitoring spacecraft positioned 1 million miles from Earth and is provided with approximately 15 to 20 minutes notice. The UK is the largest funder of the European Space Agency “Lagrange” mission, which is due to launch in 2027. This mission will enable better characterisation of CMEs and improve forecasting accuracy of the timing and magnitude of events.

International collaboration is crucial to space weather prediction. The UK’s primary partners are the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Centre and the USAF 557^th Weather Wing in the United States, with whom the Met Office maintains 24/7 communications in support of our respective operations. The UK also collaborates closely with many nations in Europe notably Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Germany.

As of 3rd March 2021, £84 million had been awarded to organisations registered in the North East, out of a total of £1.8 billion of grants awarded from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund across the whole of the UK.

The Government has provided funding to establish Centres of Excellence for vaccines to expand the UK’s manufacturing capacity and associated advanced therapeutics. The aim is to respond to this pandemic as well as increase the UK’s pandemic preparedness for the future.

Investments which will contribute to our future preparedness include:

• £93 million to accelerate the completion and expanded capacity of the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Oxfordshire;

• £127 million for the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in Braintree, Essex;

• £8.6 million for the Centre of Process Innovation (CPI) to develop Good Manufacturing Process (GMP)-ready messenger RNA (mRNA) manufacturing capability;

• As recently announced in the Budget, a further £5 million for the CPI to support their creation of a “library” of mRNA vaccines developed to tackle emerging COVID-19 variants;

• Funding for the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland; and

• £4.7 million for skills training through the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network which will ensure that the UK has the skills and expertise to operate existing and upcoming facilities.

The Government is committed to making the UK the top destination in the world for scientist, researcher and innovator talent. That is why in the 2021 Budget, the Government announced planned changes to the UK immigration system to help the UK attract and retain the most highly skilled, globally mobile talent from around the world and ensure the continued competitiveness of our high-growth, innovative sectors. These changes include the introduction of an elite points-based visa, a review of the Innovator visa route, and reforms to the Global Talent visa, including to allow recipients of international prizes to automatically qualify.

We are working closely with the Home Office on these matters, and my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy speaks regularly with my Rt. Hon. Friend the Home Secretary to discuss our plans for growth and to build back better, of which these immigration announcements are key components.

Further details on the policies and impact assessments will be published in due course. The Government expects these immigration changes to attract an additional 10-20,000 high-skilled migrants to the UK per year across all high-skilled routes to turbo-charge our post pandemic recovery and stimulate the UK’s longer-term growth.

As set out in ‘Building Back Better: our Plan for Growth’, we are developing an Innovation Strategy, which will be published in the summer. The Strategy will consider how we can boost innovation across the UK economy to increase productivity and tackle our biggest social and economic challenges.

The Government has set out plans at Spending Review to cement the UK’s status as a global leader in science and innovation by investing £14.6 billion in R&D in 2021/22. This investment supports our commitments set out in the R&D Roadmap as we build towards UK R&D investment of 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

Leveraging investment from the private sector will be vital to reach the 2.4% target and achieve our ambitions for innovation. The Government has already set out at Budget a range of measures to boost private investment in research and development, including a review of R&D tax reliefs, supported by a consultation with stakeholders, and £375 million to introduce Future Fund: Breakthrough, a new direct co-investment product to support the scale up of the most innovative, R&D-intensive businesses. These developments will complement our existing incentives for private R&D investment.

The methodology for calculating grant allocations for the discretionary business grant funds has been published in Government guidance for Local Authorities which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.

There are two discretionary schemes which have been available for specified periods from August 2020 - the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open) and the Additional Restrictions Grant.

For the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open), applicable between the 1 August- 5 November 2020 and between 5^th December 2020 and 5^th January 2021, in areas where local Covid-19 restrictions were in place, the relevant Local Authorities were issued funding allocations which were calculated using Valuations Office Agency (VOA) data on the number of hospitality, accommodation and leisure businesses in the Local Authority geography, plus a 5% top up.

For the Additional Restrictions Grant, the initial allocation and subsequent additional allocations were based on ONS 2019 Mid-Year Population Estimate for the total population within a given Local Authority.

The UK will participate in Horizon Europe as part of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) with the EU. We will pay a fair and appropriate share into the budget of this programme to enable the UK science and research sector to further their partnerships with our European neighbours.

Participating in Horizon Europe will strengthen R&D to build on the UK’s world class reputation for research and innovation. It provides exciting opportunities for UK businesses and SMEs to support growth and innovation, working with our international partners. Business organisations and researchers have strongly welcomed us securing this outcome.

We will set out our plans for R&D spend in 2021/22 – including funding for Horizon Europe – when we publish our R&D allocations. This will be done in due course.

The UK was the first country in the world to procure, authorise, and start a vaccination programme using the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. The Government has secured access to 457 million doses, across eight different vaccine developers. As of 8 March, over 22.2 million individuals have been vaccinated with a first dose.

At the Comprehensive Spending Review 2020, the Government announced it has made available more than £6 billion in total to develop, manufacture, and procure COVID-19 vaccines. Of that, £733 million in 2021-22 was confirmed to purchase successful vaccines and £128 million was confirmed for the research and development (R&D) of vaccines, as well as their manufacture. Further funding may be allocated from COVID-19 reserves as needed.

On R&D, we have allocated:

• £33.6 million for the Human Challenge Programme.
• £20 million to the University of Oxford to fund clinical trials for their COVID-19 vaccine.
• Over £40 million to Imperial College London for the development of their vaccine.

At Budget 2021, the Government announced funding of:

• £28 million to increase the UK’s capacity for vaccine testing, support for clinical trials, and to improve the UK’s ability to rapidly acquire samples of new variants of COVID-19.
• £22 million for a world-leading study to test the effectiveness of combinations of different COVID-19 vaccines. This will also fund the world’s first study assessing the effectiveness of a third dose of vaccine to improve the response against current and future variants of COVID-19.
• A further £5 million on top of a previous £9 million investment in clinical-scale mRNA manufacturing, to create a ‘library’ of vaccines that will work against COVID-19 variants for possible rapid response deployment.

On manufacturing,the Government has invested over £300 million to secure and scale-up the UK’s manufacturing capabilities to be able to respond to the pandemic. This includes:

a) Facilities that have come online:

• £4.7 million for skills training through the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network, which will be delivered through both virtual and physical centres.
• £8.75 million for the set-up of the rapid deployment facility at Oxford Biomedica in Oxfordshire.
• £65.5 million for the early manufacture of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
• Funding for fill and finish through a contract with Wockhardt in Wrexham, North Wales, which is currently providing fill and finish capabilities to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

b) Facilities that will come online later this year, to help provide longer-term UK capacity:

• £93 million to accelerate the completion and expanded role of the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Oxfordshire.
• £127 million for the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in Braintree, Essex.

In addition to the above, we have also funded the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland.

Through Help to Grow: Digital, the Government will launch a new online platform this Autumn where businesses can access advice on software that could help them save time and money, and a voucher to reduce the costs of buying that software. Over the next 3 years, 100 000 eligible SMEs could benefit from a voucher providing up to a 50% discount (worth up to £5,000) to adopt approved productivity-enhancing software. The voucher is expected to be available to UK businesses that have more than 5 and fewer than 249 employees and that have been trading for more than 12 months. The programme will launch in Autumn 2021 and eligible businesses are encouraged to register their interest at https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/.

The UK was the first country in the world to procure, authorise, and start a vaccination programme using the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. The Government has secured access to 457 million doses, across eight different vaccine developers. As of 11 March, over 22.8 million individuals have been vaccinated with a first dose in the UK.

At the Spending Review 2020, the Government announced it had made available more than £6 billion in total to develop, manufacture, and procure COVID-19 vaccines. Of that, we confirmed £733 million in 2021-22 to purchase successful vaccines and £128 million for research and development (R&D) and vaccines manufacturing. Further funding will be allocated from the COVID-19 reserve as needed.

For R&D, we have invested:

• £33.6 million for the Human Challenge Programme.
• £20 million to the University of Oxford to fund clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine.
• Over £40 million to Imperial College London for the development of its vaccine.

At Budget 2021, the Government announced funding of:

• £28 million to increase the UK’s capacity for vaccine testing, support for clinical trials, and to improve the UK’s ability to rapidly acquire samples of new variants of COVID-19.
• £22 million for a world-leading study to test the effectiveness of combinations of different COVID-19 vaccines. This will also fund the world’s first study assessing the effectiveness of a third dose of vaccine to improve the response against current and future variants of COVID-19.
• A further £5 million on top of a previous £9 million investment in clinical-scale mRNA manufacturing, to create a ‘library’ of vaccines that will work against COVID-19 variants for possible rapid response deployment.

For manufacturing, the Government has invested over £300 million to secure and scale-up the UK’s manufacturing capabilities to be able to respond to the pandemic. This includes:

a) Facilities that have come online:

• £4.7 million for skills training through the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network, which will be delivered through both virtual and physical centres.
• £8.75 million for the set-up of the rapid deployment facility at Oxford Biomedica in Oxfordshire.
• £65.5 million for the early manufacture of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
• Funding for fill and finish capabilities through a contract with Wockhardt in Wrexham, North Wales which is currently providing fill and finish capabilities to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

b) Facilities that will come online later this year, to help provide longer-term UK capacity:

• £93 million to accelerate the completion and expanded role of the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Oxfordshire.
• £127 million for the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in Braintree, Essex.

In addition to the above, we have also funded the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland.

Enforcement of employment rights remains as important as ever. The Government already spends £35 million a year on state enforcement of employment rights. This Government will always continue to stand behind workers and stamp out unscrupulous practices where they occur.

The industry-led RSC’s work programme is set out on its website https://retailsectorcouncil.co.uk/ along with the minutes of its meetings.

No money has been spent on the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). The Government has committed to £800m for ARIA by 2024/25.

The Government has committed to invest £200 million towards a dedicated Life Sciences Investment Programme, to enable the most exciting life sciences companies to scale and grow in the UK.

When the programme is launched by the British Business Bank it will leverage around £400 million of private sector investment, making around £600 million of financing available to the sector over the next 10 years.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) recently published a Statement of Opportunities on AI setting out UK’s vision to grow and maintain its international lead in AI research and innovation. UKRI has a key role in facilitating an inclusive and enabling environment for AI research and innovation, including seeking to ensure that professional skills, computing and data analytics capabilities are sufficient to meet the requirements of the UK’s researchers and innovators.

UKRI has been developing a strategy for computing infrastructure that includes people, software and data. Computing is one strand of a successful digital infrastructure ecosystem. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, and the ability to create ‘digital twins’ of complex systems using High Performance Computing (HPC), have transformative potential for researchers, industry and the public sector. Their large-scale applications requires investing in a computational infrastructure that includes exascale supercomputers to enable the most challenging modelling and simulation problems and the largest AI training challenges. The UK is preparing for the arrival of the exascale era through investment in the UKRI-Met Office ExCALIBUR programme to develop exascale-ready algorithms and software. UKRI’s strategy is for the UK to deploy an exascale supercomputer by 2025.

Additionally, the Government will be investing up to £1.2 billion in new supercomputing infrastructure for the Met Office to provide the UK with world-leading weather and climate science capability.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) recently published a Statement of Opportunities on AI setting out UK’s vision to grow and maintain its international lead in AI research and innovation. UKRI has a key role in facilitating an inclusive and enabling environment for AI research and innovation, including seeking to ensure that professional skills, computing and data analytics capabilities are sufficient to meet the requirements of the UK’s researchers and innovators.

UKRI has been developing a strategy for computing infrastructure that includes people, software and data. Computing is one strand of a successful digital infrastructure ecosystem. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, and the ability to create ‘digital twins’ of complex systems using High Performance Computing (HPC), have transformative potential for researchers, industry and the public sector. Their large-scale applications requires investing in a computational infrastructure that includes exascale supercomputers to enable the most challenging modelling and simulation problems and the largest AI training challenges. The UK is preparing for the arrival of the exascale era through investment in the UKRI-Met Office ExCALIBUR programme to develop exascale-ready algorithms and software. UKRI’s strategy is for the UK to deploy an exascale supercomputer by 2025.

Additionally, the Government will be investing up to £1.2 billion in new supercomputing infrastructure for the Met Office to provide the UK with world-leading weather and climate science capability.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) recently published a Statement of Opportunities on AI setting out UK’s vision to grow and maintain its international lead in AI research and innovation. UKRI has a key role in facilitating an inclusive and enabling environment for AI research and innovation, including seeking to ensure that professional skills, computing and data analytics capabilities are sufficient to meet the requirements of the UK’s researchers and innovators.

UKRI has been developing a strategy for computing infrastructure that includes people, software and data. Computing is one strand of a successful digital infrastructure ecosystem. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, and the ability to create ‘digital twins’ of complex systems using High Performance Computing (HPC), have transformative potential for researchers, industry and the public sector. Their large-scale applications requires investing in a computational infrastructure that includes exascale supercomputers to enable the most challenging modelling and simulation problems and the largest AI training challenges. The UK is preparing for the arrival of the exascale era through investment in the UKRI-Met Office ExCALIBUR programme to develop exascale-ready algorithms and software. UKRI’s strategy is for the UK to deploy an exascale supercomputer by 2025.

Additionally, the Government will be investing up to £1.2 billion in new supercomputing infrastructure for the Met Office to provide the UK with world-leading weather and climate science capability.

The High Performance Computing (HPC) needs of UK researchers will be considered as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Digital Infrastructure Strategy. This strategy will also consider access to European and other international computing initiatives. UKRI is investing in UK HPC, such as the new ARCHER2 national facility at the University of Edinburgh (£79m) and the DiRAC HPC provision at Leicester, Durham, Edinburgh, Cambridge, and UCL. The UK has never been part of the European High Performance Computing programme but remains a member of the European PRACE HPC initiative.

The World Health Organisation declared a coronavirus pandemic on 11 March 2020 and we would expect it in due course to declare a move to a post-pandemic period, as it has done previously for the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2010.

Ministers engage regularly with Amazon, including through the industry-led Retail Sector Council, on a range of topics. The Retail Sector Council has identified employment as one of their priority areas of work. This was discussed at the most recent meeting on 3 February.

The Government has set out its commitment to cement the UK as a world-leading science superpower. Increasing investment in Research and Development will help to achieve that ambition, including investing in new and upgraded high performance computing capability.

As announced in February 2020, the Government will be investing up to £1.2 billion in new supercomputing infrastructure for the Met Office to provide the UK with world-leading weather and climate science capability.

UKRI have also announced an investment of £34 million to expand and upgrade data and digital research infrastructure. This includes advanced analytical capability and enhanced capacity to reveal how COVID-19 has influenced urban mobility, and social and economic activity.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on UK Gross domestic Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD), and the latest release for 2018 stated the private non-profit sector funded £1,860 million, amounting to 5% of total UK GERD of £37,072 million. The equivalent percentages over the previous decade were also about 5%.

The same ONS release gave a figure for GERD funding from overseas of £5,028m in 2018, with £3,250m of this being performed by UK businesses, £1,562m by Higher Education, £172m by Government and UKRI, and £84m by the private non-profit sector.

A more detailed breakdown of the overseas funding of UK business R&D by product group is available in table 12 of the separate ONS release on UK Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD), while table 23 shows expenditure on R&D performed in overseas-owned UK businesses by product group.

As part of my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, nearly £500m of capital and R&D funding for the Automotive Transformation Fund will be made available in the next four years to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK. The funding is the first part of the up to £1 billion committed by the Government to ensure that the UK takes advantage of this once in a generation opportunity. Securing battery cell manufacturing (gigafactories) is a priority, with further targeted investment in motors, drives, power electronics and hydrogen fuel cells. This will not only improve the air quality in our towns and cities, but also help protect existing jobs in the automotive sector, including in our industrial heartlands.

Additionally, the Government and industry have committed around £1 billion over 10 years to 2023 through the Advanced Propulsion Centre to develop low and zero carbon vehicle technologies. The Government is also investing £318m through the Faraday Battery Challenge to develop the next generation of electric batteries, and nearly £80m through the cross-sector Driving the Electric Revolution programme to build the power electronics, motors, and drives supply chain.

The Government has invested over £300 million to secure and scale up the UK’s manufacturing capabilities to be able to respond to the pandemic. This includes:

a) Facilities that have come online:

• £4.7 million for skills training through the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network, which will be delivered through both virtual and physical centres;
• £8.75 million for the set-up of the rapid deployment facility at Oxford Biomedica in Oxfordshire;
• £65.5 million for the early manufacture of the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine; and
• Funding for fill and finish through a contract with Wockhardt in Wrexham, North Wales which is currently providing fill and finish capabilities to the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine.

b) Facilities that will come online later this year, to help provide longer term UK capacity:

• £93 million to accelerate the completion and expanded role of the Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Oxfordshire; and
• £127 million for the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in Braintree, Essex.

In addition to the above, we have also funded the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland.

UKRI has made over £62 million of financial support available to students most impacted by the pandemic. It is estimated that this funding is available for up to 12,000 students. This is part of a wider package of support where UKRI has already taken significant measures through £180m in costed extensions for research grants, and £334m support for innovative businesses that help support others in the system and their careers, which benefits doctoral students through.

On the requests for additional funding support beyond this, we consider that any additional support to postgraduate researchers must be balanced with the need to support wider research and development funding, including existing commitments. UKRI have recently provided a update on its decision-making in providing support for the research system (Supporting students through the pandemic – UKRI).

I regularly meet with the Minister of State for Universities and with the CEO of UKRI, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, to monitor how the pandemic is affecting UKRI-funded PhD students and the wider research system. We will continue to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and UKRI continues to listen and respond carefully.

I refer the hon Member to the answers given in my response of 5 February 2021 to Questions 144844 and Question 145176.

We are aware of the enormous pressures that the pandemic has had on doctoral students and their ability to conduct their research. UKRI has made over £62 million of financial support available to students most impacted by the pandemic. It is estimated that this funding is available for up to 12,000 students.

UKRI’s engagement over the summer with universities and supervisors found that many were supporting their students to find creative ways to re-plan their work to enable students to graduate on schedule. In addition, we know that different students have been impacted to different extents.

I regularly meet with my Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Universities and with the CEO of UKRI, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, to monitor how the pandemic is affecting UKRI-funded PhD students and the wider research system. We will continue to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and UKRI continues to listen and respond carefully as the situation evolves.

The Competition Act 1998 prohibits abuse of a dominant position – abusive behaviour can relate to pricing strategies, for example excessive pricing or setting artificially low prices to stifle competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority is responsible for investigating individual and market-wide competition issues in the UK. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that companies are behaving anti-competitively in a market.

The Government is committed to ensuring there is an effective products safety system so that only safe products can be sold in the UK. We have some of the most robust product safety requirements in the world. Manufacturers and importers must ensure that products are safe before they are placed on the market. They must monitor the safety of their products in use and take action if a safety issue is identified. Enforcement authorities have powers to take action against manufacturers, importers and distributors of unsafe goods.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards has a memorandum of understanding with the London Fire Brigade and engages regularly with them on issues of product safety.

The Government is committed to ensuring that digital markets are competitive and work for businesses and consumers. In March 2020 we commissioned the Competition and Markets Authority, along with Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office, to advise the Government on how to implement a new pro-competition regime to tackle the market power of dominant digital platforms. The Taskforce published their advice in December 2020 and the Government will respond in due course.

As part of the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy relevant government departments have worked together to ensure the UK is a force for good across the globe. We will spend more than £10 billion next year alone to fight poverty, tackle climate change and improve global health.

The Government’s commitment to research and innovation is clearly demonstrated through the recently published R&D Roadmap, and the £400m uplift in R&D spending announced in the Spending Review International collaboration is central feature of a healthy and productive R&D sector.

We recently reaffirmed our commitment to doubling UK’s International Climate Finance to £11.6bn in the years 2021-2025. The UK plays a crucial role in addressing the global challenge of climate change, responding to the needs of developing countries.

This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

BEIS published “The relationship between public and private R&D funding” (BEIS Research Paper Number 2020/010) on 1 July 2020 at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-and-development-relationship-between-public-and-private-funding carried out by Oxford Economics Ltd

They estimated the monetary impact of the long-run leverage rate, suggesting that each £1 of public R&D eventually stimulates between £1.96 and £2.34 of private R&D

The study drew on OECD data for 41 countries from 1961 to 2017 with varying degrees of completeness

The Digital Services Tax is a proportionate tax addressing widely held concerns about the tax paid by digital businesses. Pricing strategies reflect a range of factors and are a matter for businesses. The Government has announced the establishment of a new Digital Markets Unit in the CMA to promote competition in digital markets. We will consult on the powers of this unit in due course.

Since January 2019, BEIS has piloted support to help manufacturing SMEs adopt industrial digital technology to increase their productivity, efficiency and resilience through the Made Smarter North West Pilot, which to date has engaged with more than 1,100 SME manufacturers and more than 150 are receiving intensive support with grant funding. This support is currently only available in the North West of England. Roll out to other parts of England remains under discussion informed by learning from the pilot exercise.

We welcome the strong interest we have seen from local partners in delivering Made Smarter support for adoption of technology in their regions. BEIS has held productive conversations with local partners on their expressions of interest, including in the North East, and I look forward to the continuation of these discussions.

Alongside this support, we are also investing £147m through the Manufacturing Made Smarter Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. This is accessible to manufacturers of all sizes right across the UK and aims to drive innovation in industrial digital technology solutions. A £20m Challenge Fund competition to support increased digitalisation of supply chains was concluded in October, and Innovation Hubs to help manufacturers explore and test digital technology are being piloted across the country, including through the Centre for Process Innovation at both Darlington and Sedgefield.

The Digital Services Tax is a proportionate tax addressing widely held concerns with the tax paid by digital businesses. The Government cannot comment on individual taxpayers, whose pricing strategies reflect a range of factors and are a matter for businesses.

The Government announced we will publish a new ambitious Places Strategy for R&D in the R&D Roadmap. The Places Strategy will ensure that our research and development system delivers real economic and societal benefits in cities, towns, regions, and devolved nations right across the UK.

We will be stepping up our efforts to foster greater collaboration and co-creation between decision-makers at national, devolved, regional and local levels. We will also be factoring the needs and opportunities of places into our decisions about the R&D system.

Building on strengths and ensuring that all areas experience the benefits of a R&D intensive economy is an important part of the government’s ambition to increase R&D investment across the economy to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

BEIS and UKRI are engaging widely with industry, civic organisations and the scientific community including universities from across the country to help develop a strategy that responds to the needs of areas and communities across the UK. As part of this we will be considering the recommendations on regional innovation made in the Core Cities UK Universities Declaration.

Looking at innovation more broadly, we have convened an innovation expert group, Chaired by Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE of the Royal Academy of Engineering, to provide advice to government on the priority actions and opportunities that need to be taken to boost innovation and drive up the UK’s productivity.

This ambitious £450 million fund will support strategic government priorities, build new science capability and support the whole research and innovation ecosystem. This includes the first £50 million towards an £800 million investment by 2024/25 in high-risk, high-payoff research. Further details of how funding will be allocated will be announced in due course.

In the Spending Review last month, my Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer said that to cement the UK’s future as a scientific superpower and drive economic growth, the government is investing £14.6 billion in R&D in 2021/22. It will be important to stimulate private sector investment and support public services to get the most out of our excellent research base and to achieve the 2.4% target.

The budget for OneWeb is being allocated to the Department through the supplementary estimates and considered as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2020 process.

The Government is investing $500m into OneWeb, and the Department through UKGI, will work closely with the company and other partners to raise additional private investment.

The Government continues to progress plans to establish a new research funding agency as soon as possible. Discussions are ongoing across Government at both official and Ministerial levels to develop and deliver the new agency.

The Government has a high level of ambition for this new blue-skies research funding body, demonstrated by backing it with at least £800 million in funding over its first five years. There has been consideration of various options for how, and where, the body should be established to best meet that ambition.

The Government takes the infringement of IP rights seriously, and delivers a range of work through the UK IPO and other agencies to tackle the sale of counterfeit goods. Following the publication of the 2017 Industrial Strategy the IPO has facilitated a series of roundtables which have been working towards agreements with many of the same sales platforms and rights holder bodies who are signatories to the European Commission MoU. Given this work, and other ongoing domestic interventions, we have no current plans to adopt or formally recognise the European Commission MoU.

The BEIS Energy Innovation Programme supports smart energy by driving innovation in digital and data-enabled technologies for energy management and flexibility, including managing energy demand and creating platforms for trading energy resources. The new £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, outlined in the Energy White Paper, will build on this with a theme focussed on disruptive technologies aimed at improving efficiency and optimisation across the energy sector

The R&D Roadmap set out the Government’s vision for research and development. Our goal is to further strengthen science, research and innovation across the UK, making them central to tackling the major challenges we face, including achieving net zero carbon emissions.

The Government has set out plans at Spending Review to cement the UK’s status as a global leader in science and innovation by investing £14.6 billion in R&D in 2021/22. As the custodian of the R&D system, BEIS has been allocated £11.1bn for R&D in 2021/22.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will drive the creation of a Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) with enhanced environmental sustainability that contributes to the UK government’s commitment to Net Zero. DRI comprises the ecosystem of data, computers, software and skills that are necessary for research and innovation. UKRI is developing a coherent national strategy for DRI that meets the requirements of UKRI’s research and innovation communities across disciplines and that will enable UKRI to take account of the environmental impact of its investments and make decisions that are environmentally sustainable in the long term.

Alongside this strategy, UKRI promotes the AREA framework for responsible innovation, prompting researchers and innovators to Anticipate, Reflect, Engage and Act and so consider aspects such as impact of their work on net zero. Other examples of research related responses include:

• EPSRC has been working with DCMS on a combined telecoms strategy and input into digital standards and with DIT on the global market for UK digital technologies.
• Continued work with the Royce Institute, Faraday Institute, Turing Institute and centre for research in energy demand solutions will ensure materials, batteries, AI and energy demand research is incorporated into solutions.
• A priority research area that continues to feature in research investment plans such as the recently closed UKRI Digital Economy call ‘Sustainable Digital Society’.

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund has ten challenges that directly support the goal of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 – from reaching net zero in food production, to pioneering greener ways of flying, to developing the world’s first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040. These represent a total of £1.16 billion in government investment. Prior to Covid-19, industry committed to co-invest £1.32 billion across these challenges.

Innovate UK’s priorities and delivery plans for the first part of 2021 are included in UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Corporate Plan for 2020-21. In addition to this, UKRI will publish a one-off delivery plan for Innovate UK that will sit alongside the 2021-22 Corporate Plan, based on its current budget allocation. Publication of this delivery plan is anticipated in the spring of 2021.

Publication of future Delivery Plans for 2022-23 are dependent on future budget allocations for Innovate UK.

The postal service plays an important role in helping to mitigate the impacts of coronavirus on individuals, families, and businesses up and down the country.

Royal Mail, a private company, has well-established contingency plans to mitigate disruption to postal services overseen by Ofcom, the independent regulator. The Government is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.

We have made clear in the R&D Roadmap that we aim to maintain a close and friendly relationship with our European partners, seeking to agree a fair and balanced deal for participation in EU R&D schemes. Negotiations remain ongoing and we will make a final decision once it is clear whether such terms can be reached.

The Government committed in the R&D Roadmap to reaching 2.4% of GDP being spent on R&D across the UK economy by 2027. Investment in R&D will include funding for any continued participation in EU research and innovation Programmes or replacement schemes. The outcome of the Spending Review does not presuppose the outcome of negotiations with the EU.

No decision has been made on whether the UK will associate to upcoming EU R&D Programmes as negotiations remain ongoing. Whatever the outcome of negotiations, this government is committed to maintaining and enhancing the UK’s position at the forefront of global science collaboration.

We have made clear in the R&D Roadmap that we aim to maintain a close and friendly relationship with our European partners, seeking to agree a fair and balanced deal for participation in EU R&D schemes. We will make a final decision once it is clear whether such terms can be reached. If we do not associate to Horizon Europe, the Government will implement ambitious alternatives as quickly as possible from January 2021 and address the funding gap.

The Government has committed £14.6bn to R&D next year. This funding will support the life sciences sector within which Medical Research Charities operate alongside other research areas.

No, we do not plan to change the 2.4% target and remain committed to increasing UK investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

Yes, the £6 billion announced in the Spending Review 2020 for development and procurement of vaccines is inclusive of existing covid-19 vaccine procurement contracts.

Section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006 provides a route for people to apply for their personal details to be withheld from the public register of people with significant control information, where the publication of the person’s link to the company would place the person or their immediate family at risk of harm.

The information is held securely by Companies House and can be accessed by specified public authorities on request. The Gambling Commission are one of the specified public authorities listed under schedule 3 of The Register of People with Significant Control Regulations 2016.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Health and Social Care regularly discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities, and we are continuing to engage with them.

The latest data published by the Office for National Statistics is for 2018, showing UK Gross Expenditure on R&D at 1.71% of GDP, an increase on the previous year’s figure. ONS plans to release data for 2019 in spring 2021.

The Government has set out plans at Spending Review to cement the UK’s status as a global leader in science and innovation by investing £14.6 billion in R&D in 2021/22.

Private investment is a major part of UK R&D spend and leveraging this investment will be key to achieving the 2.4% target. In our R&D Roadmap, published in July 2020, we set out our priorities for boosting R&D across the economy.

The Government has set out plans at Spending Review to cement the UK’s status as a global leader in science and innovation by investing £14.6 billion in R&D in 2021/22. This investment supports our commitments set out in the R&D Roadmap and helps consolidate our position as a science superpower as we build towards UK R&D investment of 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

Leveraging investment from the private sector that we will reach the target. By increasing public investment in R&D, we will attract further private sector investment. On average, £1 of public investment in R&D eventually leverages around £2 of additional private sector investment.

The UK already has world-class science and research and is ranked as one of the most innovative countries in the world, investing 1.7% of GDP in 2018. The first figures reflecting the proportion of GDP invested in R&D in 2020 are expected to be released in Spring 2022.

In response to the pandemic, the Government has put in place an unprecedented package of support for businesses, including job support schemes, over £60 billion in grants and loans, and cuts to VAT and business rates relief. The Government has also introduced temporary measures in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act to support businesses to keep going through the pandemic, including restricting the use of statutory demands and company winding-up petitions, and suspending the wrongful trading provisions.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) judged, in its recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook, that these measures, together with forbearance on the part of creditors, have helped to reduce the number of insolvencies so far this year by almost a third compared to 2019. The Government has recently extended its package of support measures through to March 2021 to continue to support businesses as the economy emerges from the pandemic.

Due to commercial sensitivities, the Government will not be able to publish the advice used by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State in making the decision to purchase OneWeb.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 27th October 2020 to Question 106333.

Negotiations to associate to the EU R&D programmes, Horizon Europe and Euratom R&T, are ongoing. If we do not associate to Horizon Europe, we have committed to meet any funding shortfalls and put in place alternative schemes. In that case, any assessment of the funding gap would need to take account of the outcome of discussions on the EU budget and the Horizon Europe Programme regulations, which are still being finalised.

UK funding for EU programmes, or for alternatives would also be subject to allocations at the Spending Review.

As a steward of the research and innovation system, UKRI’s ambition is to nurture and support its communities recognising and valuing everyone in it. Evidence, diversity data and insight underpin UKRI’s approach to enable a dynamic, diverse and inclusive research and innovation system in the UK that is an integral part of society, giving everyone the opportunity to participate and to benefit.

UKRI are continuously working to improve our appointments process for advisory and peer review bodies to encourage a more diverse set of applicants and proactively include statements in adverts to increase representation for those that are under-represented on our councils and advisory boards. Additionally, within peer review UKRI aim to select as broad an expertise as possible, in terms of disciplinary background, career paths, ethnicity, diversity and inclusion, as well as host organisation.

UKRI undertake Equality Impact Assessments for our funding opportunities. UKRI have reviewed and made changes to their peer review processes in recent years to safeguard the process, including principles of fair peer review (https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/UKRI-07102020-PrinciplesofAssessmentandDecisionMaking.pdf), and providing training to reduce the likelihood of bias in decision making.

UKRI continue to explore the use of new tools to broaden the pool of potential people to act as reviewers. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Inclusion Matters portfolio of 11 EDI projects includes work looking at the peer review process.

The updated Notice published on 6th November on the Sustaining University Research Expertise Fund (SURE) set out further details on the Fund, including the formula for calculating allocations, conditions of funding and next steps. This included confirmation that these losses from international student fees is being calculated. Calculations would be made using forecast data as at 30 October 2020, provided through the recent interim financial data collection exercise undertaken by the Office for Students, and equivalent processes in Wales and Scotland, compared against academic year (AY) 2018-19 baseline data.

We are grateful to the British Business Bank for launching the ‘Alone together: Entrepreneurship and diversity in the UK’ report. The report is published in full and we are working with the British Business Bank to understand how to better address the challenges faced by BAME and women-led businesses. Government always welcomes input to ensure our support benefits these communities.

A diverse and inclusive finance ecosystem is good for entrepreneurs, companies, investors, and the society as a whole. Therefore, all of the Government’s business support schemes are open to eligible businesses from all regions and backgrounds, including BAME and female entrepreneurs. The Government will continue to monitor the implementation and take up of the schemes, working with investors, lenders, representative groups across the industry and the British Business Bank.

We are working with the private sector to deliver the eight initiatives of the Rose Review. Great progress has been made over the past year with NatWest and Be the Business jointly launching the Rose Review Female Entrepreneurs Mentoring Programme soon on 27 October.

More widely, the Government has set an ambition of 20,000 start-up loans being issued to Black and Minority Ethnic applicants by the end of this parliament. Of all the start-up loans issued up to September 2020, 16,159 loans (21% of lending) was issued to entrepreneurs from a BAME background and around 30,000 loans, worth over £239m, were issued to female entrepreneurs.

The Department’s Ministerial team is also actively engaging with entrepreneurs from the BAME business community to better understand their concerns, including access to finance, and has undertaken 10 engagements since March 2020.

At the 2020 Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Government’s ambitious commitment to increase public spending in research and development to £22 billion by 24/25, putting the UK on track to reach 2.4% of GDP being spent on research and development across the UK economy by 2027.

In order to prioritise the response to Covid-19, and our focus on supporting jobs, the Chancellor and my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister have decided to conduct a one-year Spending Review, setting departments’ resource and capital budgets for 2021-22, and Devolved Administrations’ block grants for the same period. This Spending Review will be delivered on 25^th November.

Government recognises the importance of having a research system that values and recognises all and is committed to addressing under-representation and inequalities including those around gender, disability and ethnicity. UKRI publishes comprehensive annual data on success rates for grant applications, fellowships and PhD starts for these characteristics and has taken positive steps to increase diversity in the peer review processes and advisory groups that decide on these.

To maximise on the economic and environmental opportunities of a transition to zero emission vehicles, the UK Government is supporting the creation of a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries.

The future demand for the recycling and disposal of lithium ion batteries and the UK skills base in this area has been assessed by Government and research into battery re-cycling, and the large scale industrialisation, is currently being undertaken.

To support this vital work, we have committed £318m to the Faraday Battery Challenge to fund the research, development and scale-up of world-leading battery technology in the UK. The innovation strand of the Faraday Battery Challenge is supporting several business-led collaborative R&D projects on reuse and recycle of electric vehicle batteries.

Policy is being formulated based on this research and Government is committed to building on the Faraday research programmes to ensure that we meet the skills and demand required to support this growing industry.

The Government has funded early clinical trials for the Imperial vaccine which began in June 2020 and continue.

The £18.5 million for further large scale studies for 2.5 million people has not yet been disbursed, as those studies cannot be undertaken until the ongoing phase 1 clinical trials, future phase 2 efficacy trials and other criteria have proven successful and regulatory approvals have been secured for human deployment of the vaccine.

Any further investment decisions will be made in due course as necessary.

The 18 month UK Global Navigation Satellite System Programme successfully concluded its work to develop outline proposals for a conventional satellite navigation system in September. £92m was originally allocated for the UK GNSS Programme and work has concluded successfully under budget. Much of the work was covered by Non-Disclosure Agreements and, for reasons of both commercial and national security sensitivities, it is not possible to offer a detailed breakdown of that spending for both inside and outside the UK.

Work completed by the UK Space Agency so far has developed cutting edge British expertise in areas such as spacecraft and antenna design, satellite and ground control systems, systems engineering and simulation, which have wider applications across the space sector, in addition to supporting specialist UK jobs and industrial GNSS capability.

The new Space Based PNT Programme will carry forward this work to consider newer, more innovative ideas of delivering global ‘sat nav’ and secure satellite services to meet public, government and industry needs.

The 18 month UK Global Navigation Satellite System Programme successfully concluded its work to develop outline proposals for a conventional satellite navigation system in September. £92m was originally allocated for the UK GNSS Programme and work has concluded successfully under budget. Much of the work was covered by Non-Disclosure Agreements and, for reasons of both commercial and national security sensitivities, it is not possible to offer a detailed breakdown of that spending for both inside and outside the UK.

Work completed by the UK Space Agency so far has developed cutting edge British expertise in areas such as spacecraft and antenna design, satellite and ground control systems, systems engineering and simulation, which have wider applications across the space sector, in addition to supporting specialist UK jobs and industrial GNSS capability.

The new Space Based PNT Programme will carry forward this work to consider newer, more innovative ideas of delivering global ‘sat nav’ and secure satellite services to meet public, government and industry needs.

The Government funds research and clinical trials through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and we have put a large focus on research into COVID-19 to tackle the immediate crisis.

The NIHR baseline budget for 2020/21 is set at £1,090 million excluding Official Development Assistance funding. In addition, there will be a number of in-year budget adjustments/transfers and funding contributions from the Devolved Administrations and other funders that have yet to be finalised but will at current estimates exceed £50 million. NIHR expects to spend its budget in full and a significant proportion of this spend will be on funding or supporting clinical trials funded by other research funders

However, the Government’s long-term objectives for R&D are clear: to invest in the science and research that will deliver economic growth and societal benefits across the UK for decades to come, and to build the foundations for the new industries of tomorrow.

The Research and Development Roadmap published by BEIS this summer set out the UK’s vision and ambition for science, research and innovation. To realise this ambition we need to ensure all people, regardless of background, have the opportunity to study STEM subjects and aspire to careers in science and engineering. The forthcoming People and Culture Strategy for Research will set out how Government will support the sector in developing a research culture that is welcoming to those from under-represented groups.

The timings of the not for profit price commitment are for the two parties involved, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to agree.

The NHS is preparing for the initial deployment of a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

The Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF), the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund (RHLGF) and the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund (LADGF) were part of an unprecedented package of support for businesses in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. My department worked with HM Treasury on the design and delivery of these funds.

We have been clear with local authorities throughout that any unspent funds would need to be returned to the Exchequer. The schemes closed on 28^th August 2020, with all payments made by 30^th Sept. Local authorities have now received guidance on the reconciliation process.

As of 20^th September, 1,260,940 applications have been approved for Bounce Back loans, at a value of £38.02bn.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is currently being delivered through 28 accredited lenders, including several non-banks and alternative lenders. If a business is unable to access the scheme because their bank is not a participant or is unable to process their application, they may also consider approaching other Scheme accredited providers.

Several lenders are allowing applications from new customers. The Government have always made clear to lenders that they should open to new customers as soon as it is operationally possible for them to do so.

The installation of automated sorting machines is an operational matter for Royal Mail, a private company.

The Government recognises the importance of research and development (R&D) in helping to transform the steel sector so that it can play a vital role within our modern Industrial Strategy.

Agreement has been reached that UK participants engaged in ongoing Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) projects will continue to be funded until completion. However, the Commission has informed UK participants in consortia that are bidding for funding this year, that they will not be eligible to receive RFCS funding. This is because the resulting grant contracts are due to be signed in April to June 2021, after the end of the transition period established in the Withdrawal Agreement.

Leaving the EU provides us with the opportunity to focus our investment on our own priorities. This includes the Government’s commitment to invest £22 billion in R&D by 2024/2025, which is a record increase in R&D spending. We have also announced a £250 million investment towards a Clean Steel Fund, complemented by a £100 million Low Carbon Hydrogen Production Fund, to support decarbonisation and make the most of the clean growth opportunities in steel.

The Government is committed to keeping the UK at the forefront of globally collaborative research and innovation. If we do not associate to Horizon Europe, we will implement alternatives as quickly as possible from January 2021 and address the funding gap. The Government has committed to raising public investment in R&D to £22 billion per year by 2024/25. This will include funding for any continued participation in EU science programmes or EU replacement schemes.

The amount of grant funding provided under the Sustaining University Research Excellence (SURE) fund will depend on income losses which at this point remain unclear - each university’s allocation is the lower of 80% of losses in international student income or the value of non-public research funding.

The Government is implementing the Challenge on Dementia 2020 published in February 2015 to make sure that dementia care, support, awareness and research are transformed by 2020. The Challenge is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prime-ministers-challenge-on-dementia-2020

We are updating the strategy and will be setting out our plans on dementia for England for future years in due course.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department of Health and Social Care have spent £341 million between 2015 and by March 2019, funding for 2020 is unavailable.

The UK Government has secured access to two vaccines being manufactured in the UK:

• 100 million doses of the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
• 60 million doses of the vaccine being developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur.

The UK Government has also secured access to the vaccine being developed by Valneva, who are based in France but will manufacture the vaccine in Scotland.

The Vaccines Taskforce, in collaboration with the Department for Health & Social Care and Public Health England, are working to ensure supply chain resilience for the manufacture and delivery of all potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including those where UK research institutions are involved.

The Independent Review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) recommended that consideration be given to the case for a strengthened internal control framework, learning any relevant lessons from operation of the Sarbanes-Oxley regime in the US. Sir Donald Brydon’s review of the quality and effectiveness of audit also made suggestions for enhancing the role of the board and the auditor in a strengthened internal control system.

The Government will publish and seek views on its proposals on audit reform in due course, including in response to these particular recommendations. The Government has been working closely with the FRC in developing these proposals.

The Independent Review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) recommended that consideration be given to the case for a strengthened internal control framework, learning any relevant lessons from operation of the Sarbanes-Oxley regime in the US. Sir Donald Brydon’s review of the quality and effectiveness of audit also made suggestions for enhancing the role of the board and the auditor in a strengthened internal control system.

The Government will publish and seek views on its proposals on audit reform in due course, including in response to these particular recommendations. The Government has been working closely with the FRC in developing these proposals.

One of the twenty-seven applications rejected as a result of the applicant entering an incorrect start date were from the North East.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is currently funding research relevant to Diffuse Midline Glioma (also previously known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)) and Glioma research more widely. This includes research at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh investigating cell-specific Polycomb Repressive Complex (PRC) Accessory proteins and the regulation of mammalian neurodevelopment. Mutations that block PRC activity occur in the majority of cases of DIPG. This research will help to understand the molecular basis of brain development and underlying deficits in developmental brain disorders. In addition, researchers at the University of Leeds are looking into the stem cell origins of brain tumours containing non-neural cells, such as glia; defining the cell types driving the formation of tumours will enable more effective design of therapeutic interventions in the future.

The MRC also supports a broader portfolio of research relating to brain tumours that may help to improve our understanding of this particular condition and inform future research and potential treatments. The MRC recently coordinated a brain tumour workshop, in collaboration with the British Neurosciences Association and the Brain Tumour Research Charity, to facilitate increased engagement between the cancer and neuroscience communities and stimulate research submissions.

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £26 million to fund single and collaborative research and development projects as part of The Sustainable Innovation Fund. The aim of this competition is to help all sectors of the UK rebuild after the effects of COVID-19.

The number of applicants to Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund (temporary framework), round 2 (De Minimis) is 1161. Twenty-seven of these were rejected for assessment because the applicant entered an ineligible start date.

The number of applications to Innovate UK's Sustainable Innovation Fund (temporary framework), round 2 (De Minimis) based on the applicants specified work address from each region is indicated in the table below.

Information on success rates at this stage is currently unavailable. This is because the competition closed to applications on the 2^nd September 2020 and bids are currently in the process of being assessed.

As part of the Patient Capital Review, the Government consulted on potential barriers to accessing finance and the means to overcome them. Following the review’s conclusion in November 2017, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an action plan to unlock over £20 billion to finance growth in innovative firms over 10 years. The plan included additional resources for the British Business Bank, and the creation of its commercial subsidiary, British Patient Capital.

Established in 2018, British Patient Capital builds on over a decade of investing £1bn in venture and venture growth capital funds. Several of these funds are now major names in UK venture, and many of the British Patient Capital team bring with them the experience, knowledge and relationships gained working in predecessor programmes. These relationships and British Patient Capital’s reputation allow it to see and take advantage of opportunities others may not. British Patient Capital predominantly invests as a Limited Partner investor.

At the end of the last financial year, British Patient Capital’s portfolio consisted of 31 fund investments, with total commitments approaching £600m, making British Patient Capital the largest domestic investor in this asset class in the UK. Page 21 of British Patient Capital’s Annual Report and Accounts 2019 provides a sectoral breakdown and is available here: https://annualreport2019.britishpatientcapital.co.uk/assets/uploads/BPC_Annual_Report_2019.pdf.

As part of the Patient Capital Review, the Government consulted on potential barriers to accessing finance and the means to overcome them. Following the review’s conclusion in November 2017, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an action plan to unlock over £20 billion to finance growth in innovative firms over 10 years. The plan included additional resources for the British Business Bank, and the creation of its commercial subsidiary, British Patient Capital.

Established in 2018, British Patient Capital builds on over a decade of investing £1bn in venture and venture growth capital funds. Several of these funds are now major names in UK venture, and many of the British Patient Capital team bring with them the experience, knowledge and relationships gained working in predecessor programmes. These relationships and British Patient Capital’s reputation allow it to see and take advantage of opportunities others may not. British Patient Capital predominantly invests as a Limited Partner investor.

At the end of the last financial year, British Patient Capital’s portfolio consisted of 31 fund investments, with total commitments approaching £600m, making British Patient Capital the largest domestic investor in this asset class in the UK. Page 21 of British Patient Capital’s Annual Report and Accounts 2019 provides a sectoral breakdown and is available here: https://annualreport2019.britishpatientcapital.co.uk/assets/uploads/BPC_Annual_Report_2019.pdf.

As part of the Patient Capital Review, the Government consulted on potential barriers to accessing finance and the means to overcome them. Following the review’s conclusion in November 2017, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an action plan to unlock over £20 billion to finance growth in innovative firms over 10 years. The plan included additional resources for the British Business Bank, and the creation of its commercial subsidiary, British Patient Capital.

Established in 2018, British Patient Capital builds on over a decade of investing £1bn in venture and venture growth capital funds. Several of these funds are now major names in UK venture, and many of the British Patient Capital team bring with them the experience, knowledge and relationships gained working in predecessor programmes. These relationships and British Patient Capital’s reputation allow it to see and take advantage of opportunities others may not. British Patient Capital predominantly invests as a Limited Partner investor.

At the end of the last financial year, British Patient Capital’s portfolio consisted of 31 fund investments, with total commitments approaching £600m, making British Patient Capital the largest domestic investor in this asset class in the UK. Page 21 of British Patient Capital’s Annual Report and Accounts 2019 provides a sectoral breakdown and is available here: https://annualreport2019.britishpatientcapital.co.uk/assets/uploads/BPC_Annual_Report_2019.pdf.

As part of the Patient Capital Review, the Government consulted on potential barriers to accessing finance and the means to overcome them. Following the review’s conclusion in November 2017, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an action plan to unlock over £20 billion to finance growth in innovative firms over 10 years. The plan included additional resources for the British Business Bank, and the creation of its commercial subsidiary, British Patient Capital.

Established in 2018, British Patient Capital builds on over a decade of investing £1bn in venture and venture growth capital funds. Several of these funds are now major names in UK venture, and many of the British Patient Capital team bring with them the experience, knowledge and relationships gained working in predecessor programmes. These relationships and British Patient Capital’s reputation allow it to see and take advantage of opportunities others may not. British Patient Capital predominantly invests as a Limited Partner investor.

At the end of the last financial year, British Patient Capital’s portfolio consisted of 31 fund investments, with total commitments approaching £600m, making British Patient Capital the largest domestic investor in this asset class in the UK. Page 21 of British Patient Capital’s Annual Report and Accounts 2019 provides a sectoral breakdown and is available here: https://annualreport2019.britishpatientcapital.co.uk/assets/uploads/BPC_Annual_Report_2019.pdf.

Building on the success of our £20 billion Patient Capital action plan (announced at Autumn Budget 2017), the Government and regulators have brought forward measures to help ensure the UK’s regulatory environment enables Defined Contribution pension schemes to invest as appropriate in innovative, growing companies. Key actions include:

• In March 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority updated their rules governing contract-based pensions investment in illiquid assets, which facilitate investment while ensuring effective consumer protection.
• In September 2020, DWP issued a consultation setting out new arrangements for calculating fees against the charge cap.
• Through the Asset Management Taskforce, the Treasury has been working closely with the industry to explore the feasibility of a long-term asset fund.
• A joint Oliver Wyman and British Business Bank report exploring the case for defined contribution (DC) pension scheme investment in venture capital and growth equity.

In addition, the British Business Bank works to unlock long-term patient finance. Since the Government’s response to the 2017 Patient Capital Review, the British Business Bank (BBB) has launched the £2.5bn British Patient Capital (BPC) Programme and the £500mn Managed Funds programme to boost the amount of institutional capital, including from pensions funds, into UK's venture and growth capital markets and channel these funds towards innovative, high-growth businesses and scale-ups.

The UK Government has secured early access to 340 million vaccines doses through agreements with six separate vaccine developers. This includes agreements with:

• BioNTech/Pfizer for 30 million doses.
• Oxford/AstraZeneca who will work to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine being developed by Oxford University.
• GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur to buy 60 million doses.
• Novavax for 60 million doses alongside funding of their Phase 3 clinical trial.
• Janssen for 30 million doses of their not-for-profit vaccine.
• Valneva for 60 million doses, with an option to acquire a further 130 million if the vaccine is proven to be safe, effective and suitable.

Whilst we have encouraged companies to make use of the coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) and avoid making redundancies, there was no requirement that employers participate in the scheme as employers are best equipped to decide whether or not they furlough their employees. An appeals process would not be appropriate given the voluntary nature of the scheme.

The legislation makes clear that any redundancy and dismissal process should be fair and reasonable. Employees with the necessary qualifying service who believe that they have been unfairly dismissed, or that the dismissal was unfair in some other way, may be able to complain to an employment tribunal.

We are aware of the impact of Covid-19 on the university research sector and charity research organisations. On 27 June we announced a support package that will help protect science jobs and enable universities to continue research and innovation activities including those funded by charities.

From the Autumn, the Government will provide a package consisting of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods, supplemented by a small amount of government grants, to cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 2020/21, up to the value of their non-publicly funded research activity, including from charities. Universities will be asked to demonstrate how these funds are being utilised to sustain research in areas typically funded by charities and business, for example to protect areas of medical research that have been developed in part with support of charities.

We continue to engage with the sector on ensuring the long-term sustainability of charity funded research in universities. As part of this BEIS and DHSC officials are also meeting regularly with the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and with individual medical research charities.

Due to commercial sensitivity, details of the six supply agreements that have and are being negotiated cannot be provided.

Due to commercial concerns, the Government will not be able to publish the advice used by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State in making the decision to purchase OneWeb.

The budget for OneWeb will be allocated through the 2020-21 Supplementary Estimate and considered as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2020 process.

The Innovation Expert Group will comprise people with the deep knowledge, experience and clear vision to help advise on innovation, drawing from industry, public services, the investment community and across the relevant disciplines of the research community.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) monitors diversity data of the research and innovation funded through the research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. UKRI published its first set of harmonised diversity data for all seven research councils for the past five academic years in July 2020 and are committed to publishing diversity data annually. The next harmonised diversity data release is scheduled for early 2021.

UKRI are also committed to expanding their data collection and analysis capabilities including of grants funded by Innovate UK, and publishing other diversity data more regularly, such as the detailed ethnicity analysis of grant applications due to be published in Autumn 2020.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has committed more than £95 million to new research aimed at tackling COVID-19 and repurposed research grants of £80 million to address the effects of the pandemic. This includes projects supported by the UKRI call launched in March 2020 for short-term projects (up to 18 months) addressing the health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak - these calls were open to collaborations across disciplines and sectors.

Recognising the global nature of the virus and the UK’s obligation to the world’s poorest under our ODA commitments, funding has been mobilised to support COVID research in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries. BEIS, through UKRI, has launched a joint Newton Fund-Global Challenges Research Fund agile call, amounting to £7.5 million. The call aims to help tackle the outbreak across developing countries where communities are already vulnerable due to long-term conflict, food and water shortages, and crowded living conditions.

There have been discussions with Airbus, but these are of a commercially sensitive nature.

The agreement we have secured with Bharti secures 70 existing UK jobs in OneWeb, and we will be using our position to encourage expansion of its supply chain in the UK.

On 9 April, it was announced that UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will offer a costed extension of up to six months for UKRI PhD students due to complete by 31 March 2021 whose study has been impacted by the pandemic. This includes 6,334 of 22,065 current UKRI-funded doctoral students. Those UKRI-funded students not in their final year may be granted extensions on a case by case basis.

On 24 April, UKRI issued detailed guidance to universities on how the policy should be implemented. UKRI has outlined that universities must put in place processes that are based upon the principles of ensuring all UKRI doctoral students are supported to complete their projects and that they should be treated fairly, generously and sympathetically given the disruptions caused to research programmes and individual’s personal circumstances. Guidance is available here https://www.ukri.org/files/news/implementation-guidance-training-grant-holders/

UK Research and Innovation is engaging with the wider sector about the implementation of the extension and to identify and understand future impact, including the numbers of students it funds that are affected. The extension will be reviewed in four months’ time to ensure that any further impacts to doctoral training are?taken into account.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 27 July 2020 to Question 76033.

The Government has committed to increasing UK investment in science, innovation and technology to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. In order to achieve this target, the Government has set out plans for public investment in R&D to reach £22 billion by 2024/25, a record increase in spending.

We are implementing the ambitious R&D Roadmap, to ensure the UK is the best place in the world for scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs to live and work, while helping to power up the UK’s economic and social recovery and level up the UK.

Businesses are the foundation of our economy and ensuring that they?can continue to develop the new products and services our society will?need is crucial.? We will provide a comprehensive environment that can build on UK strengths. This will allow SMEs and industry to grow and flourish, attract international R&D investment and talent to the UK.

For innovative SMEs, a £750 million package of support including targeted grants and loans is available, delivered by Innovate UK.

We will also continue to foster collaborations between business and R&D infrastructures , including through the network of?Catapult?Centres which were established to commercialise new and emerging technologies in areas where there are large global market opportunities. ? Since their inception, catapults have supported nearly 6,000 SMEs. Over the next five years?our investment will allow the Catapult network to continue to help thousands of businesses across the UK undertake cutting-edge R&D.

Since its formation on 14 July 2016, the Department has received 11 Ministerial Directions.

BEIS is working closely with our Global Challenges Research Fund delivery partners to ensure the impacts of Covid-19 are minimised as far as possible. In some cases this will result in extensions to grants enabling valuable research which has been delayed due to the pandemic to be completed.

As with all Government Departments, BEIS has had to adjust our allocation of ODA funding in response to the predicted fall in Gross National Income during 2020. The impacts of this adjustment on the Global Challenges Research Fund were discussed with both HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the process of agreeing the overall savings.

The UK is open to associate to Horizon Europe, if a fair and balanced deal can be agreed. We will make a final decision once it is clear whether such terms can be reached. Any agreements relating to EU programmes should contain fair terms for UK participation.

BEIS regularly meets with stakeholders, including Wellcome, to hear their views on a wide range of research and innovation issues such as participation in Horizon Europe. These views are considered as part of the policy making process.

Charity research funding is a vital component of the research funding landscape for universities, providing some 12% of total research income in 2018-19, and the charity research support element is a vital component in ensuring that universities are able to accept that funding. The charity research support element recognises that charities sponsor high-value research in universities, bringing benefits to scientific discovery and society, but that charities do not always meet the full costs of that research. According to data collected by the Office for Students using the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) methodology research charities funded 59% of the full economic cost of the research they supported in UK universities. The charity research support element of block grant funding (£204 million in England, with equivalent sums in the rest of the UK) provides a further contribution of around 10% of the full economic cost.

A significant proportion of charity funding supports health research. The UK Health Research Analysis[1] concludes that charities provided £1.11 billion in funding for health research in 2018, 44% of the total. The impact and benefits of the medical research funded by charities and supported by UKRI’s charity research support are set out in the 2019 Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) report Making a Difference[2], while the 2018 Wellcome Trust report Empowering UK Universities[3] uses cases studies to show the importance of QR funding, which includes charity research support.

Charities are anticipating a sizeable reduction in their income as a result of the pandemic, which will impact significantly on charity-funded research. The AMRC reports that its members project an average 41% decrease in their medical research spend over the next year, while 40 per cent of charities responding to its survey of members stated that half their clinical trials might be unable to restart. In April Cancer Research UK, one of the largest funders of charity research, announced a cut in research funding and stated that that no new research projects will be funded for at least the first six months of this financial year.

The size of the charity research support element does not depend upon the level of charity funding. Therefore, as the level of charity research funding falls, the charity research support element of block grant funding will cover a greater proportion of the full economic cost of charity-funded research at universities.

[1] https://hrcsonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/UK-Health-Research-Analysis-2018-for-web-v1-28Jan2020.pdf

[2] https://www.amrc.org.uk/making-a-difference-impact-report-2019

[3] https://wellcome.ac.uk/sites/default/files/empowering-uk-universities-how-strategic-institutional-support-helps-research-thrive.pdf

The comprehensive settlement to the group litigation was agreed by both parties following a number of days of confidential mediation, of which Government was not a party. Following the settlement, the Post Office has also announced a scheme which aims to address historic shortfalls for postmasters who were not part of the Group Litigation.

The Government is committed to establishing an independent review to consider whether the Post Office has learned the necessary lessons from the Horizon dispute and court case.

BioNTech and Pfizer have come together to develop a vaccine based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology and supported by Pfizer’s global vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities. A deal to supply 30m doses to the UK was announced 20 July 2020. As commercial negotiations are still ongoing around the vaccine agreements at this time, the Government is not able to confirm manufacturing and supply arrangements at present.

No such assessment has been made, however this Government has already taken action?to scale up UK vaccine manufacturing capabilities, so that if and when a vaccine is found, it can be manufactured and made available to the public as quickly as possible.?This includes funding to accelerate and expand the new Vaccine Manufacturing & Innovation Centre, bring online a Rapid Deployment Facility and a new state-of-the-art centre to scale up?COVID-19 vaccine and gene therapy manufacturing.

The Government is in the process of setting up an Independent Review to look into the Horizon dispute and court case to ensure lessons are learned for the future.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman operates independently from Government. Should it decide to open its own inquiry into Post Office Ltd. and the Horizon operating system, it will be a matter for the Parliamentary Ombudsman to decide whether it can, and if so should, share evidence it receives with the Independent Review.

As a shareholder in OneWeb, we will have strong representation on the Board and be fully involved in setting the strategic direction of the business. We will also have a special share that will allow the UK government to have a final say over any future sale of the company, and over future access to OneWeb technology by other countries on national security grounds.

As a shareholder in OneWeb, we will have strong representation on the Board and be fully involved in setting the strategic direction of the business. The current generation of?OneWeb?satellites deliver?satellite communications services and, we are currently assessing the wider use?of their capabilities. Dedicated work is ongoing across Government to determine the UK’s positioning, navigation and timing requirements and assess options for meeting them.

The agreement we have secured with Bharti secures 70 existing UK jobs in OneWeb, and we will be using our position to encourage expansion of its supply chain in the UK and direct manufacturing here.

There have been discussions with Airbus, but these are of a commercially sensitive nature.

As set out in our R&D Roadmap, we want to ensure a strong offer to attract those with the most talent and potential, and so alongside the new Office for Talent and visa reform, we will be reviewing the talent offer across all career stages to make sure that the coverage and attractiveness of programmes is among the best in the world. We will identify actions we can take to increase support for early career researchers, giving them the skills, knowledge and experience needed to progress their careers inside or outside academia.

Schemes funded by Government take career breaks and requirements for flexible working, into account. This includes UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowships and the Royal Society’s University Research Fellowships. UKRI also works with the Daphne Jackson Trust, supporting fellowships specifically aimed at returning researchers to their chosen fields after a career break. Together, these provide pathways back into academia and funding for researchers.

The Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was designed to support employers whose operations have been severely affected by COVID-19 by providing them with a grant to help them to continue paying part of their employees’ wages who would otherwise have been laid off during this outbreak. The Government guidance states that where employers receive public funding for staff costs, and that funding is continuing, we expect employers to use that money to continue to pay staff in the usual fashion – and correspondingly not furlough them. For many early career researchers supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), this would have been the case.

The Government has worked with UKRI to ensure that appropriate guidance on the use of the scheme was available on GOV.UK and accessible through the UKRI website. A number of other measures have also been announced to support researchers affected by the pandemic. On 9 April, UKRI announced costed extensions of up to 6 months for PhD students in their final year whose research had been affected. On 27 June, £260 million of funding was announced for organisations to sustain UKRI grant-funded research and fellowships.

On 21 July 2020 the British Business Bank published updated Future Fund data which gives a regional breakdown of 465 companies that have been approved for £468.7m worth of Convertible Loan Agreements since the scheme was launched on 20 May. This data is only available on a regional basis.

In the North East Region, 19 convertible loans have been approved, worth £18.7m. Of the total amount of £468.7m, 11% is to companies headquartered in the North (North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber).

Of the £100m for Direct Air Capture and carbon removal technologies, £70m will be allocated and delivered from the £1 billion BEIS Energy Innovation Programme as announced in the Budget in 2020. A further £31.5m will be spent through the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund: Greenhouse Gas Removal Demonstrators (GGR-D).

The Government is committed to developing a strong, diverse academic workforce. As part of our recently published R&D roadmap, we will be working with stakeholders on a new R&D people and culture strategy. This strategy will examine how we can better attract diverse talent into research and enhance UK research culture.

In addition, UKRI are supporting and promoting diversity of PhD students through a number of initiatives:

• Research England and the Office for Students are funding a competition to reduce inequalities in postgraduate research study to launch in Autumn 2020.
• Research England and Office for Students’ Catalyst fund (£1.5 million) will improve support for mental health and wellbeing for postgraduate researchers.
• The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s £5.5 million inclusion matters call will fund projects on equality, diversity and inclusion with projects looking at recruitment strategies and practices.

On 27th?June, we announced a major package of?support for universities to help them continue research and innovation activities being impacted by Covid-19. This will aim to support the University research base as a whole.?From the Autumn, Government will provide a package consisting of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods, supplemented by a small amount of government grants, to cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 20/21, up to the value of their non-publicly funded research activity, including from charities.

Universities will?be asked?to demonstrate how these funds?are being utilised to sustain research in areas typically funded by charities and business, for example to protect areas of medical research that have been developed in part with support of charities. We continue to engage with the sector as the details of the package are developed.

Charities will also benefit from the £750 million package announced in April to ensure Voluntary, Community and social Enterprises, including medical research charities, can continue their vital work supporting the country during the coronavirus outbreak. Charities also had access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, will pay no business rates for their shops next year and can get a Business Interruption Loan.

Ministers in BEIS and officials have met regularly with the Association of Medical Research Charities and their members over the last months and we are aware of their proposal for a Life Sciences-Charity Partnership.

On 27th?June, we announced a major package of?support for universities to help them continue research and innovation activities being impacted by Covid-19. This will aim to address the broader set of issues facing the university research sector.?From the Autumn, Government will provide a package consisting of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods, supplemented by a small amount of government grants, to cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 20/21, up to the value of their non-publicly funded research activity, including from charities.

Universities will?be asked?to demonstrate how these funds?are being utilised to sustain research in areas typically funded by charities and business, for example to protect areas of medical research that have been developed in part with support of charities. We continue to engage with medical research charities as the details of the package are developed.

Officials at the Intellectual Property Office are exploring options in relation to the rules on address for service once the transition period ends. They plan to carry out a ‘call for views’ as soon as possible, to enable them to consider what options suit representatives and applicants.

In the year since the publication of the ICAI Report, we have implemented many of the ICAI’s recommendations and we are making significant progress in all areas of our Funds’ operations, working closely with our UK and international partners.

This is set out in the Government’s evidence provided to the International Development Sub-Committee on ICAI (https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/2189/html/).

ICAI themselves have recognised much of the progress made, in their follow-up review published today.

The Newton Fund 2020-21 allocation (revised to £107m) reflects 1% of the Department’s total 2020-21 R&D budget (£10,361m).

In 2018, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) spent over £32m on health-related research in the North East.

UKRI, funds medical research primarily through the Medical Research Council (MRC). UKRI welcomes investigator-led proposals from the North-East and a key consideration for a future strategy is how UKRI research can best benefit the regions in the UK.

The MRC has a number of investments based in the North East including the MRC-Arthritis Research UK Centre for Integrated Musculoskeletal Research which is a collaboration between research and clinicians at Newcastle University, the University of Liverpool and the University of Sheffield. The Centre will focus on understanding 1) how muscles, bones and joints change as we age, 2) how this makes some people prone to problem with tissues such as arthritis, and 3) what each person can do to reduce the risk of developing these problems. Another recent investment based in the North East includes the UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing based at Newcastle University which brings together scientists, industry, the NHS, the charitable and public sectors to bring products to market that optimise health and wellbeing as people age.

The UK is well placed to realise the opportunities from hydrogen and fuel cells thanks to our high-quality engineering and manufacturing capability in relevant supply chains. We are working in partnership with industry to develop our strategic approach to hydrogen and related policy, including business models to support investment.

Through Innovate UK, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), we have supported several fuel cell trial and innovation projects to build UK expertise. The APC has provided more than £35 million in grants to projects undertaking research and development to accelerate the commercialisation of fuel cells in automotive applications.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy took advice from experts across government to provide detailed scrutiny of the commercial, financial and scientific rationales for investment. In light of this, the decision was made to invest in OneWeb, promoting the UK focus in research and innovation and putting Britain at the cutting edge of the latest advances in space technology.

The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy does not provide direct funding for digital or cyber skills in the UK: the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) lead on this policy area. I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to her by my Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Digital and Culture on 17th July 2020 to Question 72907.

The Digital Markets Taskforce (the taskforce) was set up alongside the Budget in 2020. It will provide advice to the Government on the potential design and implementation of pro-competitive measures for digital platform markets.

The taskforce is a team based in the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and is led by a senior CMA official. It is independent of the Government and is made up of officials from:

• the CMA
• the Office of Communications (Ofcom)
• the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

The work of the taskforce is ongoing and therefore there are no substantive meetings from which minutes should be published. The taskforce will provide written advice to the Government before the end of the year.

No such assessment has been made on the length of time taken. The government understands the urgency of the response to COVID-19 and set up a rapid response R&D fund, to accelerate research proposals into the disease. All applications to the UKRI-DHSC rapid response call are assessed on their own merits and awards made so far can be found at:

https://mrc.ukri.org/funding/browse/ukri-nihr-covid-19/ukri-nihr-covid-19-rolling-call/?_ga=2.186583657.1164498350.1594986614-294529872.1594986614.

The funding calls and processes for Scancell, Oxford and Imperial have different requirements and are of different scales, therefore the timings required to make a proper and fair assessment should not be compared.

The Government is taking a portfolio-based approach that monitors the landscape of coronavirus vaccine development, both here in the UK and internationally. Our approach is to develop vaccine candidates across the main potential technologies, including adenoviral vaccines, mRNA and nucleic acid vaccines, adjuvanted protein vaccines and other approaches, including whole inactivated viral vaccines. We cannot comment on negotiations with industry at present because of commercial confidentiality, but will be announcing developments in due course.

UK Research and Innovation has made several awards for studies on the transmission of COVID-19 through the UKRI open call as well as through the joint DHSC-UKRI Rapid Response Rolling call. This includes a £0.3million project led by Public Health England, to study how SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted, by determining how long SARS-CoV-2 can survive in the air and on different types of surfaces (for example, those found in the healthcare, domestic and community settings) under controlled environmental conditions (a range of temperatures and humidities) representative of those found in different settings and countries.

The UKRI open call is still open for applications and has so far funded 140 projects worth £41million. A full list of COVID-19 related funding is available on the UKRI website and is updated weekly.

On 4 June I met with the Royal Academy of Engineering to discuss their report in to engineering biology and agreed to have a discussion with industry leads to fully understand the opportunities these technologies have to offer.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced up to £100 million for new research and development of Direct Air Capture on June 30^th. Part of this will be funded through the more than £1bn announced in Budget 2020 by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer for Net Zero Innovation to stimulate commercial activity in this essential technology. As with the current £505 million Energy Innovation Portfolio, this will be distributed by BEIS. The other part will be distributed by UKRI under its Strategic Priorities Fund, to accelerate innovation by universities.

The new funding is part of the Government’s ambitious plans to increase public research and development (R&D) investment to £22 billion per year by 2024 to 2025 announced in Budget 2020. Later this year, the Spending Review will provide the opportunity for the government to set out further detail on the long-term priorities for R&D investment as part of those plans.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 29 June 2020 that informed the House of Commons of a support?package to sustain research capacity and capability which might otherwise be impacted by Covid-19.

From the Autumn, the Government will demonstrate its commitment to research by providing a package of support to research-active universities, consisting of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods, supplemented by a small amount of government grants. In sharing responsibility for the future of science and research with our world-leading university system the government will cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 20/21, up to the value of non-publicly funded research activity in that university.

Further details of the package, including the loan and grant arrangements, will be announced in due course.

The Government collectively reviewed and agreed to lead a successful bid to acquire OneWeb, who develop cutting-edge satellite technology in the UK and in the United States.

This investment is likely to make an economic return, with due diligence showing a strong commercial basis for investment. The deal contributes to the government’s plan to join the first rank of space nations, and signals the government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies enabling enhanced broadband through the ownership of a fleet of Low Earth orbit satellites.

The Government collectively reviewed and agreed to lead a successful bid to acquire OneWeb, who develop cutting-edge satellite technology in the UK and in the United States.

This investment is likely to make an economic return, with due diligence showing a strong commercial basis for investment. The deal contributes to the government’s plan to join the first rank of space nations, and signals the government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies enabling enhanced broadband through the ownership of a fleet of Low Earth orbit satellites.

The Government recognises that there are significant pressures on PhD students and on charities as a result of the impact of COVID-19.

This impact includes a loss of income for charities, which is why the Government has pledged £750 million to ensure Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises, including medical research charities, can continue their vital work in supporting the country during the coronavirus outbreak.

Furthermore, on 27 June the Government also announced 2 support packages to protect research jobs and ground-breaking research projects impacted by coronavirus. Firstly, around £280 million of government funding has been made available to universities impacted by coronavirus that will fund extensions to grants and support researchers’ salaries. Secondly, from this autumn UK universities will be able to access a series of government grants and long-term low-interest loans covering up to 80% of their income losses caused by an expected decline in international students, to ensure that crucial research can continue. As part of these packages, we will be asking universities to consider how they can support charity-funded research, including the PhD students involved, through this funding.

Charities and higher education providers can also access cross-cutting government support schemes, including the Business Interruption Loan Schemes and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

While charities and higher education providers are independent organisations and are responsible for their own decisions on funding, the Government is continuing to work with the sector, including with the Association of Medical Research Charities, to understand the impacts of COVID-19.

Officials at the Intellectual Property Office are continuing to have many useful discussions with representative bodies over how to best address this matter once the transition period ends. They are considering ways of capturing the full range of impacts, working with stakeholders.

Officials at the Intellectual Property Office are continuing to have many useful discussions with representative bodies over how to best address this matter once the transition period ends. They are considering ways of capturing the full range of impacts, working with stakeholders.

We recognise that the scale up and demonstration of hydrogen’s potential in meeting Paris commitments is a global challenge. We are an active member of Mission Innovation and the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy. Since the UK has left the European Union, we are seeking to engage and cooperate with the EU on hydrogen through normal diplomatic channels. Therefore, the UK will not attend EU meetings or working groups on this topic other than in exceptional circumstances. Whilst the UK is leaving the EU single market, it remains an important part of the gas supply system for North West Europe. The UK, including industry, can expect to work cooperatively with its neighbours to sustain this mutually beneficial relationship into the future as the methane gas market is decarbonised, potentially leading to a European hydrogen market. The UK is undertaking extensive stakeholder engagement.? As part of this we are looking to formalise regular engagement between Government and industry?to discuss and drive development of the UK hydrogen economy.

Information on the scale and sources of research grant income secured by universities is available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). This data is collected on an annual basis from higher education providers and is available at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/income. Data for each of the last three years is provided in the table below:

*The Royal Society, British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh

In 2018-19, UKRI accounted for ca 70% of public funding for research from UK sources.

Information on the scale and sources of research grant income secured by universities is available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). This data is collected on an annual basis from higher education providers and is available at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/income. Data for each of the last three years is provided in the table below:

*The Royal Society, British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh

In 2018-19, UKRI accounted for ca 70% of public funding for research from UK sources.

Discussions with the new Place Advisory Group will inform the development of the ambitious new place strategy to be published in the autumn, as will further detailed discussions with the scientific community, industry, and civic organisations from across the country.

We will consider what material will be made public by the Group as part of the Terms of Reference. We expect to finalise and publish the membership and Terms of Reference for the Group in due course.

We will invest at least £800 million to set up a unique and independent funding body that will back breakthrough technologies and basic research by experimenting with new funding models across long-term time horizons. We want to empower researchers to lead the world in the creation of new technologies, so we are currently in discussions with notable scientists and innovators to further develop and refine the design of the body. The funding for the new body and how it is allocated will be designed around the most appropriate model to deliver its vision, and the Department’s funding for future years from 2021-22 on will be allocated via the Spending Review.

Research funding allocations to universities from Research England are based primarily on the performance of their research departments under the Research Excellence Framework while project funding is allocated through competition, for example from the Research Councils. Research allocations are made irrespective of whether the university has been assessed through the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcome Framework.

From the Autumn, Government will provide research-active higher education providers across the UK with a package of support to sustain research capacity which is at risk from income losses due to COVID-19, consisting of low-interest loans with long pay-back periods, supplemented by a small amount of government grants. This will cover up to 80% of a university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 20/21, up to the value of their non-publicly funded research activity. In order to be eligible, the provider in England must be an “Approved (Fee Cap)” provider registered with the Office for Students and already in receipt of Research England funding.

On 27 June, the Government announced two new support packages to protect research jobs and ground-breaking research projects impacted by coronavirus:

• from this autumn, UK universities will be able to access a series of government grants and long-term, low interest loans covering up to 80% of their income losses caused by an expected decline in international students, ensuring that their crucial research can continue.
• around £280 million government funding will be made available to universities impacted by coronavirus, allowing them to continue developing ambitious and innovative research projects.

The package includes funding for costed grant extensions for the outstanding researchers funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Academies, whose projects have been seriously impacted by COVID-19.

It includes £180 million for UKRI, which will be awarded as a block grant allocation to 157 institutions. The allocation will be calculated pro rata to the total value of payments that organisations are profiled to receive between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, for competitively awarded grants with a planned end date during the same time period.

Demand is expected to be high for the funding allocated by the National Academies, and we are working with the Academies to develop delivery mechanisms.

The wider package of announcements will be available in the Autumn.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s research and development allocations for 2020/2021 were published on 29^th May 2020 and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-research-and-development-rd-budget-allocations-2020-to-2021/beis-research-and-development-budget-allocations-2020-to-2021.

Information on future years’ allocations will be published following the Spending Review.

The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) is a new competitive funding scheme that funds consortia of research organisations, businesses and local leadership, to carry out research and innovation activities that will have specific local economic impacts.

The SIPF operates a two-stage process, where consortia first submit shorter expressions of interest (EoI) bids, and the SIPF assessment panel makes recommendations to UKRI. Funded EoI bids receive up to £50k seedcorn funding to support development of full stage bids, which are then reviewed by the same assessment panel. The panel makes recommendations for both stages of funding against the published SIPF assessment criteria available on the UKRI website based on the strength of the bids.

The proportion of applicants and successful applicants for Wave 1 of the SIPF by NUTS1 categories at each of the stages is outlined below. These are defined by lead applicants, as SIPF projects are carried out by consortia, there will be partners within these projects that are in different NUTS1 classifications to the lead applicant.

Wave 2 of the programme is currently under way, with the announcement of successful EoIs for funding proposals scheduled for Summer 2020. SIPF is only part of a wider portfolio of funding streams delivered to organisations across the country through UKRI that places can benefit from.

Table 1

Notes on data supplied in Table 1

^a The data provided refers to eligible SIPF bids, in line with the published programme assessment criteria.

While the Government is pleased that a resolution has been reached on this difficult matter, the Post Office led the mediation and the Government was not party to it.

The financial settlement is a major step towards resolving some of these grievances, however there is more for the Post Office to do. The Post Office has committed to a major programme of work to overhaul its relationship with postmasters which Government is determined to see delivered.

The Government fully recognise the implications for financial sustainability of university research from potential decline in income from international students, and other sources. BEIS officials are working with colleagues in Department for Education, Office for Students and UK Research and Innovation, and with the university sector, to understand and assess the potential scale of the impacts, taking account of range of actions to encourage continued recruitment of international students, and to open up higher education institutions from September.

On June 27^th we announced a support?package to sustain research capacity and capability which might otherwise be impacted. From this autumn, UK universities will be able to access a government funded package of long-term, low interest loans, supplemented by a small amount of grant, covering up to 80% of the university’s income losses from international students for the academic year 20/21, up to the value of their non-publicly funded research activity. This will help to protect research jobs, capability and ground-breaking research.

UK space sector organisations have won important new contracts from the European Space Agency for work related to five out of the six new Copernicus missions. The Government has made clear its ambitions for space and is developing a new UK Space Strategy to bring long-term strategic and commercial benefits to the nation.

The Government led a successful bid to acquire OneWeb, who develop cutting-edge satellite technology in the UK and in the United States. The deal will support the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies, whilst boosting UK manufacturing.

This deal will protect 70 existing jobs and the Government will be encouraging future roles to be based in the UK, both in OneWeb itself and in the wider supply chain. The UK will seek to develop further its advanced manufacturing base, making the most of its highly skilled workforce as the hardware is further developed and equipment and services are deployed to make the most of this unique capability.

This Government has made clear its ambitions for space and is developing a new National Space Strategy to bring long-term strategic and commercial benefits to the UK. We are in regular discussions with the space industry as part of this work and how this could be taken forward.

The Chapter 11 bidding process for OneWeb is commercially sensitive, so it would not be appropriate to comment further.

Positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services underpin a wide range of essential UK public services and national capabilities. Work is ongoing across Government to determine the UK’s positioning, navigation, and timing requirements.

The ongoing Chapter 11 bidding process for OneWeb is commercially sensitive, so it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.

I regularly meet with UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Chief Executive. BEIS works closely with UKRI to ensure that a whole systems approach is taken in embedding equality, diversity and inclusion across the research and innovation system. We expect UKRI, and the research organisations it funds to deliver doctoral training, to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is considered and supported at all stages of the doctoral programme.

UKRI collects diversity data of UKRI funded PhD Studentships, specifically on age, disability, gender and ethnicity and has published its first set of harmonised diversity data for all seven research councils for the past five academic years. This is an important step in understanding the diversity of our research and innovation communities. UKRI is investigating the collection of diversity data to include other protected characteristics and publishing data at a more granular level.

As of 14 June, 155 convertible loans have been approved under the Future Fund, with a total value of £146 million.

Regional figures for the Future Fund will be published monthly and the first release of data will be later this month.

In Oxford and Imperial, we have two of the global front-runners in C-19 vaccine development. The teams at Oxford University and Imperial College are the most progressed in terms to developing a vaccine candidate and entering clinical trials, in the UK. As such, the Vaccine Taskforce has worked to ensure that Oxford and Imperial receive the investment from BEIS and DHSC to accelerate the development of a successful COVID19 vaccine.

The Vaccines Taskforce will continue to review and engage with other candidates and the Government is rightly proud of the work that many of our academic institutions are conducting in response to COVID 19.

As of 21 June, 252 convertible loans have been approved under the Future Fund, with a total value of £236.2 million.

We are currently monitoring scheme uptake and total uptake statistics are published weekly here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-treasury-coronavirus-covid-19-business-loan-scheme-statistics.

The convertible loans issued under this scheme will automatically convert to equity in recipient companies in the next qualifying equity financing round. There may also be other circumstances in which loans would either convert into shares or be repayable, such as: specific exit events; maturity of the Loan; or on an event of default by the Investee Company.

As a result, we are unable to make an estimate on the number of conversions at this time.

Officials are having ongoing conversations with representative bodies over how to best approach the issues surrounding address for service once the transition period ends.

The Taskforce has been meeting remotely via video conference on a fortnightly basis. The membership and full terms of reference of the group are available on gov.uk.

The taskforce has discussed a range of issues facing the sector due to the disruption surrounding COVID-19, and how to approach those challenges. Discussions at the taskforce are assisting ongoing policy development, alongside intelligence which has been submitted by members and their networks.

The Taskforce has been meeting remotely via video conference on a fortnightly basis. The membership and full terms of reference of the group are available on gov.uk.

The taskforce has discussed a range of issues facing the sector due to the disruption surrounding COVID-19, and how to approach those challenges. Discussions at the taskforce are assisting ongoing policy development, alongside intelligence which has been submitted by members and their networks.

Throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, we have closely engaged with the engineering and manufacturing sectors, ensuring that their input helps to shape the Government’s response.

We have also worked closely with businesses, business bodies, trade unions, Public Health England, and workplace safety experts to develop a “national consensus” on the safest ways of working across the economy. This has included engagement with stakeholders from the engineering and manufacturing sectors. Through this work we have developed specific guidance for different types of workplaces, including factories, plants, and warehouses.

Last week, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy convened a series of Economic Recovery roundtables, bringing together businesses, business representative groups, and leading academics to consider measures to support economic recovery and ensure we have the right skills and opportunities in place for our workforce.

Long-term domestic vaccine manufacturing capability is being considered jointly with the Department of Health and Social Care and Government is working closely with the Bioindustry Association (BIA) to ensure that the UK has the manufacturing capabilities to produce new vaccines at the levels required.

In addition, Government has recently announced £93 million investment to accelerate the launch of the UK’s new Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre; a facility that will utilise innovative processes to manufacture vaccines at scale.

Under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), a business which has had their application for a loan accepted, or is part of a wider group (defined by having a holding company at the top of their structure) in which any business has had their application for a loan accepted, is not able to apply for a further loan.

Businesses using the BBLS, who later decide that they need more financing, may be able to refinance their loan in full under Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) provided they are eligible for the CBILS.

Businesses are not permitted to access more than one of either the BBLS, CBILS, Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) or the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) scheme at the same time.

Direct debit customers build up credit balances for a variety of reasons: smoothing bills over seasons, changes in consumption patterns, and if suppliers have to estimate the amount of energy used if no meter reading has been provided.

Suppliers have policies on refunding excessive credit balances, and we encourage all consumers to provide frequent meter readings and to monitor payment levels to ensure their payments are appropriate.

BEIS does not collect data on direct debt customer credit balances so has not made an assessment of how these have changed before or during the Covid-19 outbreak. Ofgem can collect data on credit balances by requesting it from suppliers through a formal Request For Information and have done so on occasion in the past, allowing them to monitor this.

The Government is aware that this is an important issue for stake holders, in particular UK-based patent and trade mark attorneys.

Officials at the Intellectual Property Office are having ongoing conversations with representative bodies over how to best address this matter once the transition period ends.

We have set ourselves the target of at least 2.4% of GDP being spent on R&D by 2027.? This was supported by the unprecedented commitment at the Budget to increase public investment in R&D to £22?billion a year by 2024-25.

This figure covers all R&D spending across government. The allocation of the spend to particular departments and programmes will be confirmed at the Spending Review, later in the year.

On Friday 29^th May we announced allocations to BEIS partners and programmes for 2020-21. UKRI will confirm allocations to individual research councils in due course.

The Government is committed to ensuring the UK becomes a global science superpower and continues to collaborate with Europe on scientific research. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has made clear that the UK is ready to consider a relationship in line with non-EU Member State participation in Horizon Europe, provided that this represents value for money and is in the UK’s interest. Any agreements relating to Union programmes should contain fair terms for UK participation.

I refer the Hon. Member to a Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 19 May (HCWS245), which sets out that discussions covered all workstreams including: general terms for UK participation in programmes, including provisions for financial contribution.

As a responsible government, we are also developing alternative schemes to support international research and innovation collaboration. This includes options which can address immediate needs and work through to any future funding scenario.

In the Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that government investment in R&D will increase to £22bn by 2024/25, the largest and fastest ever increase. The increase in investment in R&D will include funding for any continued participation in EU research and innovation Programmes or EU replacement schemes, subject to allocation at the Spending Review.

Officials have been involved in cross government discussions on many post transition period issues.

We are currently in negotiations with the EU as we seek a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. On legal services, our starting point is precedent based. We aim to secure market access commitments for lawyers and minimise barriers to the cross-border supply of services and investment, on the basis of commitments like those in the Canada FTA. We cannot comment on on the status of live negotiations.

However, rights of representation, whether before domestic courts in Member States or EU institutions, such as the EU Intellectual Property Office, are the preserve of the Single Market and so do not form part of the UK approach to negotiations with the EU.

Our investment in science and research will be critical to our economic recovery and it is already helping us to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of the 4^th June, UKRI-funded research projects and other awards related to COVID-19 total over £170m (of which £12m comes from NIHR). This does not include internal re-allocation for example through UKRI-owned institutes and centres. The actual number will be much higher than this. UKRI is also working with partners across the broader research system, for example in supporting the government’s ventilator challenge.

Since the start of the crisis UKRI has allocated over £1bn in research and innovation funding to tackle the effects of COVID-19 (this includes funding to assist research-intensive SMEs affected by the crisis).

All sources of R&D funding of are of great importance to UK R&D. Every £1 of public funding in R&D leverages around £1.40 of additional investment from the private sector. The UK is at the forefront of producing new ideas and has the capacity to translate these into social and economic benefit to the UK.

We are increasing spending on R&D investment to £22 billion per year by 2024/25. This is the biggest ever increase in public funding of R&D. We intend to develop a comprehensive R&D plan which will draw on work undertaken through the Industrial Strategy, and we will work closely with stakeholders in developing this.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with UKRI, on a range of issues, including public and private sector research and development and COVID-19.

Under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), businesses can apply for between £2,000 up to 25% of their turnover. The maximum loan available under the Scheme is £50,000. Once a business has received a BBLS facility, it is not eligible to apply for a second loan under the Scheme.

Businesses using BBLS, who later decide that they need more financing, may be able to refinance under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) provided they are eligible.

Businesses are not permitted to access more than one of either the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, CBILS, CLBILS or the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) scheme at the same time.

The BBLS is part of a comprehensive package of support, including the Job Retention Scheme, VAT and tax deferrals, and small business grants. All businesses can reach out to their lenders and landlords for payment holidays during the COVID crisis.

Businesses in England can find up to date information on all available support at our Gov.uk website, from the Business Support Helpline (0300 456 3565) and through their Local Growth Hubs.

In April we announced a £1.25 billion package to help ensure innovative firms in some of the most dynamic sectors of the UK economy – ranging from tech to life sciences – are protected through the COVID-19 crisis so they can continue to develop innovative new products and help power UK growth.

The Government is supporting businesses to continue research and development through this crisis. We recently announced £750 million of investment, delivered through Innovate UK, in new measures?to support innovation in the country’s most research-intensive businesses both during and after the coronavirus pandemic, and to support new ways of dealing with global disruption.?Details on this package are available online?at:?https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-coronovirus-business-innovation-support-package.

This package builds on the government’s existing support for innovative, high-growth firms including the £2.5 billion British Patient Capital fund, the upcoming £200 million Life Sciences Investment Programme, internationally competitive R&D tax reliefs and our major commitments to increase public R&D spending to £22 billion by 2024-25.

We are aware that the business events industry has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. The Government has engaged regularly with the sector over the last few months to continuously assess the situation.

Overall, Government has introduced a range of support for businesses across all sectors in the UK. At this time:

• 8.4 million jobs have been furloughed with £15 billion claimed so far through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). 1million employers have used the Scheme.
• 2.3million Self-employment Income Support (SEISS) claims have been submitted worth £6.8 billion.
• The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) has seen 608,069 approved loans so far worth £18.49 billion.
• Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) has seen 43,045 loans worth £8.15billion approved so far.

The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) has seen 154 approved loans totalling £0.82 billion.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer on all aspects of the economy, including research and development and Covid-19.

During the Financial Crisis, R&D performed in businesses in the UK fell in 2008 by 2% (after taking account of inflation) and by a further 3% in 2009. By 2011 it had recovered to levels above those in 2007, and in 2018 was more than 30% higher than in 2007.

The Government is supporting businesses to continue research and development through this crisis. We recently announced £750 million of investment, delivered through Innovate UK, in new measures to support innovation in the country’s most research-intensive businesses both during and after the coronavirus pandemic, and to support new ways of dealing with global disruption. Details on this package are available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/access-coronovirus-business-innovation-support-package.

This is in addition to our existing plans to significantly boost public R&D funding and our ambition to reach 2.4% of GDP spent on R&D by 2027.

The Government holds research and development as a high priority, and we continue to believe our world-leading excellence in science will be key to ensuring the UK’s prosperity and productivity in the long term and to tackling the immediate challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the outbreak, BEIS and DfE?have set out?to universities and the wider research community early considerations and advice to help the sector deal with some immediate priorities. A joint BEIS/DfE Ministerial Taskforce on the sustainability of university research has been set up to identify and assess impacts and to consider approaches to help manage these over the?coming months.

Government announced a package of support for UK universities on 4^th May to ensure that the university research base can fully contribute to the UK recovery and our economy in the longer-term post COVID-19. The Department does not hold any information about the number of business R&D contracts held by UK universities that have been paused as a result of COVID-19. However, BEIS is working with the sector to gather information and intelligence about the impact of COVID-19 on business-funded research.

The Government recognises that the aviation and manufacturing sectors have been strongly impacted by Covid-19.

We do not have an assessment of the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on the level of research funding to universities for aviation or manufacturing. According to the Office for National Statistics, UK business finance for Research & Development (R&D) in higher education in 2018 was £389 million. This is approximately 4% of all R&D performed in higher education. We do not have a breakdown by product or sector.

A Ministerial Taskforce, jointly led by BEIS and the Department for Education, on the sustainability of university research including those funded by businesses, has been established. The Taskforce will identify and assess impacts, as well as consider approaches to help manage these impacts over the?coming months.

The Government is aware of the consequent pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic on doctoral students and their ability to complete work. This is a difficult time for all post graduate students, academic staff and researchers.

On 9 April it was announced that UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will offer a costed extension of up to six months for UKRI PhD students due to complete by 31 March 2021 whose study has been impacted by the pandemic. This includes 6,334 of 22,065 current UKRI-funded doctoral students. Those UKRI-funded students not in their final year may be granted extensions on a case by case basis.

On 24 April, UKRI issued detailed guidance to universities on how the policy should be implemented. UKRI has outlined that universities must put in place processes that are based upon the principles of ensuring all UKRI doctoral students are supported to complete their projects and that they should be treated fairly, generously and sympathetically given the disruptions caused to research programmes and individual’s personal circumstances.

UKRI is engaging with the wider sector about the implementation of the extension and to identify and understand future impact, including the numbers of students it funds that are affected. The extension will be reviewed in four months’ time to ensure that any further impacts to doctoral training are taken into account.

The Department does not hold information on the overall number of PhD students – UKRI-funded and funded via other sources – who have had their research contracts extended.

The Government is working closely with Ofgem and industry to support the transition to a smarter, more flexible energy system. Our Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan sets out a suite of actions to facilitate the deployment of smart technologies in homes and businesses. Smart technologies drive decarbonisation, can help consumers save money, and improve the efficiency of our energy system – saving the UK an estimated £17-40bn by 2050.

There were around 19.3 million smart meters installed in homes across Great Britain by the end of 2019, enabling households to track and manage their energy use and prepayment customers to top-up credit without leaving home. The half-hourly consumption and price data recorded by smart meters is enabling innovative products such as smart tariffs, which allow consumers to save money by using energy away from peak times and technologies such as electric vehicles and smart appliances to be cost-effectively integrated with renewable energy sources.

The Future Fund opened for applications on 20 May. The Future Fund will provide UK-based companies with convertible loans, investing between £125k and £5m, on the condition that third-party investors at least match the Future Fund’s commitment.

The eligibility criteria for the scheme states that a business must be a UK incorporated limited company and if the company is a member of a corporate group, only the parent company is eligible.

As part of its Open Access Review, UKRI issued a consultation in February to seek views and evidence on its proposed policy, inviting responses from any organisation, group or individual with an interest in research and innovation. Originally closing on 17 April, the consultation has been extended to 29 May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 disruption.

Further work is being undertaken to gather evidence alongside the consultation, including independent analysis to help assess the possible implications for stakeholders, such as direct costs and benefits, and wider social and economic implications.

The review originally aimed to report in 2020, however, with changing circumstances related to COVID-19, it is likely to report later. UKRI continue to review the situation and will communicate a clear timetable once this is more certain.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has funded a total of £23,694,655 for activities directly related to coronavirus between 2010 and the current COVID-19 crisis. This covers 34 projects across 23 organisations including the Pirbright Institute, the MRC Human Immunology Unit, and the University of Glasgow.

UKRI, along with other government departments, also funds a large amount of research and innovation across connected areas including the social sciences, vaccine manufacturing, and into fundamental biological sciences that are not directly aimed at coronavirus but have a huge impact on our understanding of and ability to respond to infectious diseases and epidemics.

These areas are also supported, in collaboration with other public funders, through groups such as The UK Vaccine Network, which was established in June 2015 with £120 million from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and UKRI ODA funding, to support the development of vaccines and vaccine technologies for diseases with epidemic potential.

Since the outbreak of the current pandemic the Government has made a series of further interventions specifically targeted at COVID-19 including:

• £24.6 million for a joint UKRI-DHSC rapid response call for public and clinical research on COVID-19. Funding for this has been announced across 27 projects
• £20m through UKRI, Public Health England, NHS, and Wellcome Trust for the Whole Genome Sequence Alliance
• £28m through UKRI, Genomics England, DHSC, NIHR, and Illumina for the GenOMICC consortium
• UKRI have launched an open call for short-term multi-disciplinary research projects of up to 18 months into tackling and mitigating the impacts of COVID-19.
• In addition to the £40m already given to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Prime Minister announced in March that the UK has invested an additional £210m of funding in the CEPI global vaccine initiative.

The latest ONS Business Enterprise Research and Development release suggests that businesses in the UK performed over £43 billion worth of R&D on pharmaceuticals in the ten years from 2009 to 2018, the most recent 10-year data range available.[1] Specific figures on private sector research into coronavirus within pharmaceutical research are not specified in this release.

[1] ONS Business Enterprise Research and Development Release, UK: 2018 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/bulletins/businessenterpriseresearchanddevelopment/2018

As shown in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Update earlier this year, the two Life Sciences Sector Deals transform a significant part of the industry-led Life Sciences Industrial Strategy into government policy. The considerable government and industry investment in the Sector Deals was secured through extensive collaboration between government and the sector, working together strategically to enhance the attractiveness of the UK

Government is committed to continuing to work with the sector, including through the Life Sciences Council (a partnership between Government and industry) to deliver on the vision of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy and the commitment to make the UK the leading global hub for life sciences.

Effective collaboration between the Life Sciences sector and government is vital to the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Protecting the health and safety of the British public is, and must always be, our number one priority.

Manufacturing is a critical part of our economy.?My Department?is engaging with industry trade bodies to understand the impacts of Covid-19 on the manufacturing sector, to ensure that Government support meets the needs of manufacturers?during and after the Covid-19 outbreak.

On 7 May, the Office for National Statistics published the Business Impacts of Covid-19 Survey.[1] It showed that 79% of manufacturing businesses continued to trade during between 6 and19 April 2020. However, more than half of manufacturing businesses reported a fall in turnover during this period.

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronavirustheukeconomyandsocietyfasterindicators/7may2020#business-impact-of-the-coronavirus

There is a clear and unprecedented demand for testing supplies and companies, including UK manufacturers, are ramping up their capacity as quickly as possible. We are working closely with industry to obtain maximum possible supplies for the UK and with the scientific community to explore innovative new options for test kits.

Where new testing solutions are developed, we are keen to ensure we are able to utilise them as soon as possible and will be working with the appropriate industry bodies, the UK diagnostics industry and regulators like the MHRA to ensure the most effective products being adopted meet our criteria for use.

The Government has established a Vaccines Taskforce to coordinate and make the most of all the work going on across government, academia and industry to accelerate the development and manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Work is proceeding at pace to ensure that the UK has capacity to deliver across different vaccine types whilst they are still under development. We will be carefully considering how we go from a newly manufactured and licenced vaccine, to distributing this to those who need it once it becomes available. We are co-ordinating closely with partners across the health and social care system.

The Government is clear that we will support people in work during the COVID-19 outbreak. We are regularly engaging with industry stakeholders to ensure they are well prepared and that their operations remain in line with the latest health guidance.

Safety of workers is the number one priority for the Government. Public Health England advice remains that personal protective equipment is not necessary in the workplace outside clinical settings or where the Health and Safety Executive and employer risk assessments do not suggest it is necessary.

Postal operators should make sure they put appropriate measures in place to follow the legal obligations set out under Health and Safety legislation to protect their staff at work. Postal workers are advised to continue to follow the advice of their employers and make sensible workplace adjustments.

There is a clear and unprecedented demand for testing supplies. The Department of Health and Social Care is leading on the government’s approach to testing for COVID-19 and the National Diagnostics Effort to scale up the UK’s diagnostics industry, as part of the government’s Testing Strategy.

The UK has an innovative, but relatively small diagnostics industry, and both the Department for Health and Social Care and The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy are working with companies, including UK manufacturers, to ramp up their capacity as quickly as possible. The Department of Health and Social Care is also working closely with industry to obtain maximum possible supplies for the UK and with the scientific community to explore innovative new options for test kits.

Consumers who pay for their energy on a pay as you go basis are protected by the Pre-payment Meter Price Cap which came into force on 1 April 2017. This cap applies to prepayment meter consumers on a non-fixed deal and without an interoperable smart meter and is set so as to ensure that prices are fair. Energy suppliers can price to the level of the cap or below it but cannot charge more. Ofgem are monitoring the energy market closely and will adjust the Prepayment Meter Cap to reflect changes in the underlying factors.

The Government is aware of the impact of COVID-19 on the ability of STEM PhD students to complete lab-based work.

I have written an open letter, encouraging the sector – where possible and fully in line with government advice – to continue with science- and research-related business. This sets out that universities and research institutes will be best-placed to make decisions themselves about what should be paused or stopped. The letter has been published on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) website: https://www.ukri.org/files/news/science-minister-letter-covid19/.

UKRI is continuing to engage with the higher education sector, and confirmed on 9 April that it will offer a costed extension of up to six months for UKRI PhD students due to complete by 31 March 2021 whose study has been impacted by the pandemic.

All businesses in receipt of the Small Business Rate Relief on or before the 11^th March 2020 are eligible for the Small Business Grants Fund. Where currency exchange kiosks have their own business rating and meet the eligibility criteria, they are eligible for the Small Business grant of £10,000.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has funded a total of £25,319,783 for activities directly related to coronavirus since the 2002 SARS outbreak. This covers 45 projects across 25 organisations including the Pirbright Institute, the MRC Human Immunology Unit, and the University of Glasgow.

UKRI, along with other government departments, also funds a large amount of research and innovation across connected areas including the social sciences, vaccine manufacturing, and into fundamental biological sciences that are not directly aimed at coronavirus but have a huge impact on our understanding of and ability to respond to infectious diseases and epidemics.

These areas are also supported, in collaboration with other public funders, through groups such as The UK Vaccine Network which was established in June 2015 with £120 million from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and UKRI ODA funding, to support the development of vaccines and vaccine technologies for diseases with epidemic potential.

To support research into the current COVID-19 outbreak DHSC and UKRI have run a rapid response initiative, a further £20 million has been made available to support research to understand the disease, prevent, treat and control it, in order to mitigate the severity of the outbreak. The initiative has two calls i) active intervention development including vaccines and therapeutics, and ii) diagnosis and understanding of COVID-19. Funding panels have met and awards will be announced shortly. The UK has also committed £50 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), which supports MERS-CoV and COVID-19 vaccine development efforts.

It is a fundamental principle of the patent system in the UK that inventions are made public. This benefits society as it allows everyone to learn of new technical advances which, critically at this time, includes developments in the area of coronavirus research. The NHS in England and other relevant health bodies across the four nations have established procurement procedures for accessing patented inventions, whether stemming from coronavirus research or not.

The UK’s patent system provides a number of checks and balances to the grant of exclusive patent rights, including powers for government departments to use a patented invention in a period of emergency.

The Government is firmly committed to becoming a global science superpower and continuing to collaborate internationally on scientific research.

The Chancellor announced that government investment in R&D will increase to £22bn per annum by 2024/25, putting the UK on track to reach 2.4% of GDP being spent on R&D across the economy by 2027. This increase will include funding for continued participation in EU science programmes or EU replacement schemes. Funding for EU programmes, or for alternatives would be subject to allocations at the Spending Review.

The Government will be working on the allocation of the announced investment over the coming weeks and will announce further details at the Spending Review later this year.

We will publish a new ambitious place strategy for R&D this summer. This will set out how we can build on existing initiatives, such as the Strength in Places in Places Fund, to build R&D excellence across the whole country.

The Government commissioned Energy Innovation Needs Assessments (EINAs), published in November 2019, looked at the role of different technologies in the UK’s future energy system. The EINAs highlighted that AI, machine learning and digital technologies are likely to play a key role in decarbonisation and the UK achieving Net Zero, and we are taking those findings into consideration when planning future innovation support.

Departments publish quarterly details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings

The latest published data covers July to September 2019. Data for October to December 2019 will be published shortly.

Ofgem has an important role in the transition to net zero and has various powers and duties in relation to decarbonisation. Ofgem’s principle duty is to protect existing and future consumers and this includes consumers’ interests in the reduction of targeted greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and gas supply. Ofgem also has a duty to have regard to the effect on the environment of activities connected with the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity and gas and, when performing its duties, to have regard to the need to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. These duties are set out in Part 1 of the Gas Act 1986 and Electricity Act 1989.

The Government will set out its vision for the GB energy market as part of the forthcoming Energy White Paper, which will address the transformation of our energy system in the context of delivering net zero by 2050.

Having agreed technical standards enables industry to provide products and services that work together and are an essential part of the electronic communications world. ETSI is one of the main standards organisations in this area. DCMS leads on standards for digital and electronic communications and pays the UK government membership fee to ETSI. DCMS is active on the board and a number of technical committees and coordinates the UK industry relationship with ETSI. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) lead the technical work on quantum communications and quantum-safe cryptography from a UK government perspective.