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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Written Statement of 21 November 2022, HCWS 376 on Programmes: Announcement of £484 million immediate investment for the UK R&D and fusion sectors, which body will decide (a) eligibly for and (b) which organisations will receive that funding.

As announced on 21^st November, £484 million in targeted investment will provide immediate funding to the UK R&D sector whilst UK association to European Research Programs continues to be blocked. The Government’s preference remains association to Horizon Europe and we continue to do everything we can to achieve this, but we cannot stand by and allow UK research to suffer.

The package aims to target support at universities and research organisations affected by the EU’s continued refusal to finalise the UK’s association to EU programmes. All aspects of the programme will be delivered by existing trusted and experienced UK delivery partners, such as UKRI who are experienced at delivering R&D funding at scale.