Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the University of Leeds report entitled Why doesn’t the UK make more Robots?, published in November 2025, what steps she is taking to help tackle scaling barriers for UK-designed and manufactured robotics and autonomous systems.

Government measures to support robotics firms to scale up in the UK includes crowding-in private sector investment via the British Business Bank and National Wealth Fund, both with expanded capitalisations and a mandate to support companies aligned with the Industrial Strategy. The Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) assesses UK’s approach to regulation to ensure the regulatory system adapts to keep pace with innovation. Robotics is a current priority for RIO which will be assessing where barriers can be removed to accelerate innovation and deployment.