Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to increase levels of research and development expenditure in UK manufacturing industries.

According to the latest business statistics published by the ONS, the UK manufacturing sector invested £7.6 billion in research and development in 2016, accounting for around a third of privately funded R&D in the UK that year. In 2017, the sector invested £28 billion overall – a 46% increase against the level in 2010.

It is important that UK manufacturing continues to pioneer new and innovative advanced manufacturing technologies. In August, the Chancellor of the Exchequer invested £536 million in the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, which, together with the £107 million announced by the Prime Minister at the July Regional Cabinet, means this Government has invested £643 million in supporting British manufacturers to conduct R&D and maintain their position at the cutting-edge of technology.

This is possible because Government has invested an additional £7 billion in research and innovation since Autumn 2016 – delivering the biggest increase in public research and development investment for 40 years and demonstrating clear progress towards the Government’s ambition to raise investment in R&D in the economy to 2.4% of GDP by 2027