Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the extent to which university spin-out companies remain headquartered in the UK following their first significant institutional investment.

In June 2025, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) published the first university spin-out register (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/business-community/spin-out-register), allowing us to understand the spin-out ecosystem better than ever.

Among 2,307 spinouts in the Spinout Register (as of September 2025), 9.3% were acquired, of these 70% from abroad. Meaning 6.5% of all spinouts registered were acquired from abroad. Even when acquired from abroad, the operations and R&D of the spin-outs in many cases will continue to be based in the UK, creating jobs, and attracting investment locally.