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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect on (a) private investment and (b) the Government's ambition to be a world leader in science investment of extending the target of spending £22 billion per year on research and development from 2024 to 2026-7.

The Government is providing the fastest ever sustained uplift in R&D funding, reaching £20bn per annum by the end of the SR period – £5bn more than 2021/22. We remain committed to the target of UK economy-wide R&D investment reaching 2.4% of GDP by 2027. The UK already has world-class science and research and is ranked as one of the most innovative countries in the world.