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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether his Department considered the potential merits of central foreign exchange hedging mechanisms for UKRI’s international scientific subscriptions to protect domestic particle physics and astronomy grant budgets.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) already uses a hedging and exchange-rate policy, aligned with departmental and HM Treasury policies and frameworks, to manage financial risks associated with UK membership of large international research infrastructure like CERN. The only hedging arrangements permitted by UKRI’s policy are forward-buy contracts with the Bank of England. This approach provides greater certainty over future subscription costs and smooths short term volatility. However, it does not protect against potential global economic pressures, nor long-term unfavourable currency movements which are priced into the Bank of England contracts.