Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how Innovate UK's Tech Readiness Levels relate to investment readiness.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Whilst some UKRI councils use Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) to determine funding eligibility, Innovate UK takes a more flexible approach, as there is no standardised way of applying them across sectors or non-technological projects. Innovate UK instead uses categories determined by subsidy control regulations: fundamental research, feasibility studies, industrial research, or experimental development. Innovate UK’s programmes support businesses to develop new products and services, which enhances their ability to secure investment. An example of this is the Investor Partnerships programme, which provides grant funding with aligned equity investment. Through this model, £1.44bn of private sector leverage has been achieved from £100m in grant awards.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 39835 on Social Media: Regulation, whether (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom has made an assessment of the impact of designating end-to-end encryption as a risk factor in the (i) Illegal Harms Codes of Practice and (ii) illegal content risk assessment guidance on regulated businesses' willingness to offer end-to-end encryption to users in the UK.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom is responsible for assessing the possible implications of its codes of practice and guidance under the Online Safety Act (OSA).
As previously noted, the OSA does not ban any service design and the European Conventions of Human Rights (ECHR) requires all UK public bodies, including Ofcom, to act in a way that complies with ECHR rights. Companies are legal persons having rights afforded by the ECHR.
DSIT will carry out a Post Implementation Review to assess the effectiveness of the legislation, including how the OSA has addressed harmful online content while protecting UK users’ rights.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much the Government spends on countering disinformation; and in which Departments this money is spent.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A number of departments, including DSIT, Home Office and the FCDO, work together to address risks to the UK from disinformation. Activities include analysis and policy work to reduce the spread and impact of disinformation online.
We do not share our total spend on information threats publicly because of the risks inherent in revealing the scale of our efforts to adversaries. Components of this spend include £3m invested in media literacy by DSIT to drive critical engagement with online content (2022-24) and £25.5m invested by FCDO in building societal resilience to Russian interference in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (FY24-25).
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the regional distribution of research and development funding.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT's R&D budget is rising to £13.9bn for the 2025/26 financial year, a real terms increase of 8.5% compared to 2024/25. This will include investments in our R&D system in every region of the UK.
There will be a lag in the data showing the exact regional distribution but the latest figures from UKRI show that all regions and nations received an increase in UKRI investment between the financial years 21/22 and 23/24. In 23/24 the greatest absolute increases in investment were seen in the North West, West Midlands and East Midlands.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to p. 69 of the English Devolution White Paper, published on 16 December 2024, which innovation partnerships she plans to continue; and what criteria his Department uses to decide which innovation partnerships are effective.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the English Devolution White Paper, we committed to support more local leaders, working in partnership with businesses and universities, to unlock their regions’ innovation potential.
For example, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is deepening its regional partnerships with Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England and working to extend this to the Devolved Administrations. InnovateUK is working with local leaders across the UK to develop jointly owned local innovation action plans. UKRI is developing a framework to assess the effectiveness of these partnerships, which will help inform the consideration of options for future regional innovation funding as part of the Spending Review.
We are also developing a new, UK-wide regional innovation funding programme as part of the Spending Review. This will help to ensure everyone benefits from innovation-led growth.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how Innovate UK supports (a) start-ups and (b) scale-ups in meeting the requirements of potential investors.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Innovate UK has several targeted approaches to support innovative SMEs that increase their investment readiness. From 2020-2024, SMEs supported by Innovate UK Business Growth have raised over £9bn in private sector investment. In its current spending review planning, Innovate UK is further prioritising how their overall support is strengthened to provide a smooth innovation journey from start-up to scale-up alongside working in closer partnership with other ecosystem partners such as the Scale-up Institute and British Business Bank.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the pay gap between men and women working at UK Research and Innovation; and what steps he is taking to tackle that pay gap.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UKRI published its sixth Gender Pay Gap report in March 2025. The report describes the steps that UKRI is taking across the organisation, including developing inclusive recruitment and career progression strategies.
UKRI’s mean gender pay gap has narrowed by 0.6 percentage points since 2022. However, the most recent data shows that the gender pay gap widened by 0.7 percentage points in the last year. This change is largely driven by the 2022 pay award, which increased the salaries of employees in research delivery roles to address external pay market pressures. There is a higher proportion of male staff than female staff within this cohort compared to the wider UKRI employee population. Actions to address this disparity are set out in the report; these include reviewing recruitment and selection process to eliminate biases and ensuring that UKRI’s practices are fair and inclusive for all.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of levels of research and development funding for sickle cell disorder.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects and strategic investments, including research into sickle cell disease, for which UKRI had expenditure of approximately £0.2 million in 2023-24. UKRI also plays a key role in funding underpinning research which may not be attributable to a specific condition but will benefit medical research more generally.
The Department of Health and Social Care funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Over the past five years, the NIHR have awarded over £6 million for research related to sickle cell disease.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with (a) his international counterparts and (b) regulators in (i) Germany and (ii) Romania on (A) Online Safety Act 2023 and (B) foreign interference in elections.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
International collaboration is crucial in tackling the global threat of online harms. DSIT Ministers and officials meet regularly with international partners to discuss online safety, including foreign interference in elections. Tackling foreign interference is crucial to uphold our democratic values, and we are committed to promoting a free, open and secure internet. The latest list of DSIT ministerial meetings (July – September 2024) can be found here:
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether Ofcom has made an estimate of the reduction in fraud on in-scope platforms from the Illegal Content Codes of Practice.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act gives user-to-user and search service providers new duties for tackling illegal fraud. These duties took effect on 17 March. Providers will need to conduct risk assessments and ensure they put in place systems and processes that proactively tackle fraud. Ofcom set out details about how providers can comply with their duties in its illegal harms codes of practice. Ofcom will keep the effectiveness of its codes under review and strengthen the codes as needed. The department is not aware of any specific estimate for fraud reduction by Ofcom.