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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2016 to Question 48877, whether higher education institutions in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK will be able to continue to apply for (i) EU research funding and (ii) the Horizon 2020 project after the UK leaves the EU; and whether HM Treasury plans to continue to underwrite the payment of such awards.

Until our departure from the EU, we remain a fully paid up Member State, with all the rights and obligations that entails. All UK-based researchers, wherever they are located within the UK, can continue to apply for competitive EU research funding, such as the Horizon 2020 programme, while we remain a member of the EU. We will work with the European Commission to ensure payment when funds are awarded. The Treasury will underwrite the payment for such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. Access to apply for Horizon 2020 after we leave the EU will be a matter for the negotiations that will follow the triggering of Article 50.