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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the trends in the net flow of publishing scientists in relation to being domiciled in the UK and overseas in each of the last three years.

Science is a global co-operative endeavour and scientists circulate around the world to collaborate and learn from their peers. To further our ambitions as a science superpower, we need to ensure the UK is internationally competitive for this globally mobile talent, with reduced barriers to mobility. We have therefore set out actions to ensure the UK attracts, develops and retains talented individuals and strong teams in research and development, in the R&D People and Culture Strategy. The strategy also recognises the importance of mobility between sectors, including between academia and industry.

We do not hold information regarding the domicile of publishing scientists. Although information is available on their academic affiliations, scientists can be affiliated to multiple institutions in multiple countries at the same time.

International researchers continue to move to the UK: the Global Talent visa, introduced on 20 February 2020, accounted for 2,768 grants in the High Value visa category for the year ending September 2021, around half (50%) of all High Value visa grants. UKRI’s Endorsed Funder route for obtaining the Global Talent visa has endorsed 875 applications since April 2021, currently receiving 100 to 120 applications per month.