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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the private sector research and development opportunities available for research in the Higher Education sector.

Data on university income from private business is collected annually by the Higher Education Statistics Authority. The latest data from the 2020/21 academic year shows that higher education institutions received £5.1 billion from the main sources of private sector funding. This includes £1.4 billion for contract research and £1.8 billion for collaborative research.

In addition, there are several government programmes that require or encourage collaboration between higher education and the private sector, such as the UK Research Partnerships Investment Fund, which has provided £900m to higher education institutions that has been matched by twice as much private investment.