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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to (a) increase overall R&D intensity, (b) meet the R&D spending target of £22 billion per year by 2026-27 and (c) obtain private investment to contribute to the target of 2.4 per cent of GDP spent on R&D by 2027.

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.

The significant rise in public R&D spending to £20bn by 2024/25, with a clear commitment to £22bn by 2026/27, provides a firm foundation for us to reach the target, but we cannot achieve it alone: it is only by working with innovative businesses and funders from the private sector that we will reach 2.4%. The government is doing its bit to reach the target, with record levels of public sector investment and a generous R&D tax credits scheme. Total government support for R&D (expenditure and R&D tax credits) is forecast to rise from 0.7% of GDP in 2018 to 1.1% in 2024-25, which is well above the latest OECD average of 0.7%.

We have set out our approach to attract increased private investment, for example in the R&D Roadmap last year and in the Innovation Strategy this year.