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 the keynote speech made by the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation at Onward UK on 11 Jan 2023, what steps he plans to take to make clusters referenced test beds.

The third round of the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund (RPF) will invest £12m in projects which encourage experimentation and innovation in regulation. For example, Milton Keynes City Council is using RPF funding to prove, test, trial and demonstrate new drone-based services that operate alongside robotics delivery services and self-driving passenger shuttles. The project plans to establish a testbed to allow ongoing experimentation and create a blueprint for wider adoption and deployment. Officials are looking at a number of such areas where we may have potential to scale-up innovative regulatory testbeds. RPF-funded projects will help to keep the UK at the forefront of regulation through testbeds and other forms of regulatory innovation.