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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he will take to prevent universities and other institutions in the greater south east from setting up campuses in other regions for the purposes of claiming levelling up funding.

Our record increase in R&D investment to £20bn by 2024/25 means universities and businesses in the Greater South East will continue to benefit from public R&D investment. Public R&D funding will continue to be awarded competitively and open to universities, businesses and organisations across the whole UK.

The Paul Nurse review will look across the landscape of UK organisations undertaking all forms of research, development and innovation. This review will highlight the strengths to be nurtured and any comparative weaknesses to be tackled, and make recommendations for addressing them. Sir Paul Nurse will report on his review in early summer 2022.