Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government commits up to £3.5 billion to future of tech and science, published on 16 March 2023, how much of the £900 million of funding for a new exascale supercomputer has been allocated.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The funding announced at the Spring Budget 2023, supports DSIT to deliver on the Government’s key science and technology priorities, this includes investing £900 million in an Exascale supercomputer and AI Research Resource (AIRR) to enhance the UK’s Compute capabilities. HMG also confirmed additional investment for the AIRR project and established Isambard AI which will be operational later this year.
Since the Spring Budget announcement, HMG announced Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) as the preferred site to host exascale. More details around the project will be announced once decisions around procurement have been confirmed.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the UK Space Agency to undertake engagement and outreach activities.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Space Agency’s work programme is driven by HMG’s National Space Strategy. The UK Space Agency’s corporate plan, once agreed by Ministers, sets out the activities that will be delivered to achieve the Government’s objectives.
A link to the National Space Strategy is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-space-strategy.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with Nissan following its decision to withdraw app support for older Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 vehicles.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT Ministers regularly discuss a range of issues with automotive manufacturers, including Nissan. However, the Government is not able to comment on individual business matters.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 5.59, page 74 of the Spring Budget 2024, what his Department's (a) selection criteria and (b) rationale were for identifying Canary Wharf as the recipient hub of investment over other life sciences hubs.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As the Government’s housing and regeneration agency, Homes England is tasked with accelerating house building and regeneration in all areas of the country. The brownfield regeneration scheme being supported at Canary Wharf includes over 500 homes in an area of high demand, responding to significant local need.
The Home Building Fund – Infrastructure Loans (HBF-IL) programme which supports this scheme provides infrastructure loans for mixed-use developments throughout England. Details of selection criteria can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/home-building-fund-infrastructure-loans.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure adequate manufacturing capabilities for new (a) vaccines and (b) drugs in a pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability, including vaccines and therapeutics. The UK Biological Security Strategy, published in June 2023, reaffirms our ambition to scale up discovery, development, and manufacturing of therapeutics and vaccines within 100 days.
In the Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor announced £520 million for Life Sciences manufacturing to build resilience for future health emergencies and capitalise on the United Kingdom’s world-leading research and development. This follows previous investment through the Biomanufacturing Fund, to incentivise the manufacture of vaccines and therapeutics, to improve the UK’s health resilience to future pandemics.
In September 2023, the UK Health Security Agency agreed a deal for millions of life-saving vaccines to be produced, with end-to-end manufacturing in the UK, if a future influenza pandemic is ever declared. The advance purchase agreement means healthcare company CSL Seqirus will be on standby to produce over 100 million pandemic influenza vaccines from their manufacturing plant in Liverpool.
In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research, development, and manufacturing facilities in the UK. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, with the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year, in the event of a pandemic.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has had recent discussions with Sheffield Forgemasters on local electron-beam welding.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The electron beam welding facility recently commissioned and announced by Sheffield Forgemaster’s was partly funded by Government as part of the Energy Innovation Programme. As such, officials have had recent engagement with Forgemasters to discuss updates on the progress of their projects in this area.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to improve the biosecurity of laboratories handling dangerous pathogens.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Part 7 of the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001 regulates the ability of sites such as universities, hospitals and research centres to hold and work with certain dangerous pathogens and toxins as listed under Schedule 5 of the Act.
The legislation places several responsibilities on sites including notifying the Home Office of their intention to hold or work with such substances, and ensuring suitable security measures are in place.
Current security levels around Schedule 5 substances remain sufficiently high and we continue to work with the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) to continuously review and improve the policies, processes and legislation surrounding Schedule 5 substances.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with the National Grid on improving the timetable for connecting infrastructure projects to the national grid.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is working with Ofgem, the Electricity System Operator and network companies to accelerate network connections. Since the Connections Action Plan[1] was published in November 2023, over 40GW of projects have been offered earlier grid connection dates, accelerating up to £40bn of investment. In the coming months we will decide on further action to ensure only viable projects can retain their connection agreements. In addition, from next January a new process will prevent projects being offered a specific connection date until they demonstrate sufficient progress towards connecting to the grid.
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/655dd873d03a8d001207fe56/connections-action-plan.pdf
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of childcare provision for PhD researchers.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
30 hours free childcare is an entitlement for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds. The entitlement aims to help with the costs of childcare so that parents can take up paid work if they want to or work additional hours.
The ‘Childcare Bill policy statement’, published in December 2015, is clear that students are not eligible for 30 hours free childcare. The department recognises the value of parents continuing in education, however, and provide a range of support other than 30 hours for those in further or higher education.
Students are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education which is available to all 3 and 4 year olds regardless of family circumstances.
Students who work in addition to studying are eligible for 30 hours free childcare if they meet the income requirements.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her statement issued on 5 March 2024, how much official time was spent (a) drafting that statement and (b) negotiating with Professor Sang's lawyers; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of those negotiations.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the hon. Member to the opening statement by the Secretary of State at the Lords Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee on 12 March 2024.