Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the surrender of unused funding for Horizon and Euratom association set out on page 295 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23, HC 1133, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of carrying over that funding under the Budget Exchange Scheme.

At Spending Review 2021, the Government set aside funding for the cost of associating to EU R&D programmes as agreed in the December 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). To mitigate the impact of delays to the UK’s association, we introduced the Horizon Guarantee as well as £684m of additional support for the R&D, fusion and Earth observation sectors.

As is usual practice, departmental underspends are returned to the Exchequer at Supplementary Estimates to ensure spending plans are taut and realistic. We welcome the Windsor Framework agreed by the UK and the EU on 27 February, which delivers for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland. We look forward to working constructively with the EU on a range of issues. We will now take stock of our future cooperation under the TCA and the financial implications of any such cooperation. If we are not able to associate, we will ensure that UK researchers receive at least as much funding as they would have received if the UK were associated to Horizon.