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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what role Innovate UK took in assessing the bids for the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre; and what criteria were used to assess those bids.

The bids were assessed by the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC Ltd) and VMIC Ltd and its Boards of Directors decided which bids to progress. The criteria used by VMIC Ltd to assess bids is commercially confidential information.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, through the VTF, and UKRI-Innovate UK worked together closely up to and during the sale of the VMIC facility to ensure Government objectives were met.

Questions regarding VMIC’s Ltd’s non-government sources of funding should be directed towards VMIC Ltd.