Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published on 28 July 2021, what steps his Department has taken to date to challenge UKRI and other research stakeholders to use future innovation challenges to accelerate innovation in assistive technologies.

The future of any UKRI innovation challenge-funding is subject to an ongoing SR allocations process which BEIS is currently working through to set R&D budgets through to 2024/25.

The work that UK Research and Innovation have undertaken to accelerate innovation in assistive technologies is set out in the National Institute of Health Research’s report on Research and Development Work Relating to Assistive Technology: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-and-development-work-relating-to-assistive-technology-2018-to-2019