Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with Universites Wales on replacement of EU funding to universities in Wales after the UK leaves the EU.

It is clearly very early in the negotiations to be discussing specific outcomes. However, this Government is already taking actions to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements. The Chancellor announced in August 2016 that the Treasury will underwrite the payments of all successful bids for competitive EU research funding awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the departure from the EU. This applies to all UK partner organisations. This gives UK participants and their international partners confidence that they will have the funding necessary throughout the life of their Horizon 2020 funded project. Welsh organisations have attracted €66 million in Horizon 2020 funding between January 2014 and February 2017.

The Government is committed to ensuring the UK remains a world leader in international research and innovation. ‘The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union’ White Paper set out that the Government would welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives and we will approach the upcoming negotiations on this basis.