Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government which civil society, charitable or corporate organisations, if any, were invited to comment on or provide input to the content of the Growing up in the online world consultation prior to its publication on 2 March.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We regularly meet with civil society stakeholders to discuss online safety policy.
Any civil society, charitable, or corporate organisation mentioned in the consultation was asked to check that the specific references to them were factually accurate before publication.
All organisations are invited to respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government which academics or consultants will design and supervise the pilots announced as part of the Growing up in the online world consultation; and whether they will publish the protocols for those pilots.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is working with Savanta to design and supervise the pilots.
Officials have sought expert advice from the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Dame Angela Mclean, and the Government Office for Science (GO-Science). In February, Dame Angela convened and chaired a roundtable with academics, researchers and others with expertise in digital safety and evaluation design; to consider the objectives and methodologies for the pilots to ensure they can effectively inform future policy decisions.
Further information on the pilots will be provided in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government who will select academics to join the academic panel announced in the Growing up in the online world consultation; on what basis those academics will be selected; and what steps they will take to ensure that any actual or potential conflicts of interest, including research funding relationships, can be publicly disclosed by those on the panel.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
DSIT has received advice from the Government Office for Science (GO-Science), academia and members of the research community on the potential makeup of the panel.
Prospective members will be required to declare conflicts of interest, which the Department will review before any appointment. The declarations of all panel members will be made public.
Further information about the panel will be made available in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many investigations Ofcom has commenced under the Online Safety Act 2023 in relation to regulated user-to-user services as defined in that Act; how many penalties have so far been imposed as a result; and how many of the fines imposed have been paid.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ofcom, as the independent regulator for online safety, publishes information on its website about the enforcement action it takes, including details of the investigations it has opened into potential breaches of online safety duties. As a result of this work, Ofcom has exercised its powers to issue financial sanctions in several cases, with at least one regulated service having already paid its fine.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the £1.3 billion in co-investment reported by UK Research and Innovation in the report Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, published on 24 July 2024, was independently verified after project award.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UKRI verifies co-investment commitments at several stages of the grant lifecycle. Verification processes are managed according to the terms and conditions of specific grant awards and vary depending on the size of the awards. For large co-investment commitments, UKRI engages third parties to conduct verification.
At the application stage, UKRI portfolio managers verify co-investment commitments as part of usual due diligence checks, with host research organisation also undertaking due diligence to confirm that information included in applications is accurate. For completed awards, grant holders are able to report actual co-investment values via the research outcomes process.
The co-investment figure of £1.3 billion provided in the 2023-24 UKRI Annual Report and Accounts reflects project partner contributions declared at the point of application.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current outstanding balance of the innovation loans portfolio managed by UK Research and Innovation; and what proportion of that balance is classified as non-performing.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Since April 2018, £267.7m commitments have been made across 304 loans (including those approved and currently in execution). £221.2m in commitments are currently live across 248 loans, of which £191.9m is drawn. Under the terms of the loans with Innovate UK repayment of all of the loans in the current portfolio is due by 2033, with over half by 2028.
31 loans have already repaid in full, recovering £18.4m in capital. 16 defaulted loans with a combined outstanding exposure of £12.7m have completed the administration / recovery process, with £400k recovered and the remainder written-off. These write-offs occurred over following financial years as follows:
Year | Number | Value of write-off |
2018-2020 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 1 | £1m |
2022 | 1 | £0.5m |
2023 | 2 | £2.4m |
2024 | 4 | £2.9m |
2025 | 8 | £5.5m |
A further 59 loans are currently in default against their obligations. 40 of these (£28.3m total commitment) are subject to recovery action through legal recourse and administration; 19 (£12.5m commitment) are subject to restructuring within Innovate UK Loans Limited with a view to securing a realistic plan for repayment over time.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total value of innovation loans written off by UK Research and Innovation in each financial year since the scheme began in 2017.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Since April 2018, £267.7m commitments have been made across 304 loans (including those approved and currently in execution). £221.2m in commitments are currently live across 248 loans, of which £191.9m is drawn. Under the terms of the loans with Innovate UK repayment of all of the loans in the current portfolio is due by 2033, with over half by 2028.
31 loans have already repaid in full, recovering £18.4m in capital. 16 defaulted loans with a combined outstanding exposure of £12.7m have completed the administration / recovery process, with £400k recovered and the remainder written-off. These write-offs occurred over following financial years as follows:
Year | Number | Value of write-off |
2018-2020 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 1 | £1m |
2022 | 1 | £0.5m |
2023 | 2 | £2.4m |
2024 | 4 | £2.9m |
2025 | 8 | £5.5m |
A further 59 loans are currently in default against their obligations. 40 of these (£28.3m total commitment) are subject to recovery action through legal recourse and administration; 19 (£12.5m commitment) are subject to restructuring within Innovate UK Loans Limited with a view to securing a realistic plan for repayment over time.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total value of suspected grant fraud investigated by UK Research and Innovation in each of the past five financial years; and how much was (1) confirmed as fraud, (2) prevented, and (3) recovered, in each year.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UKRI makes consolidated data returns to the Public Sector Fraud Authority covering identified, recovered and prevented fraud. The data requested is in the table below.
For individual cases, investigation, recovery, and prevention activities can extend over multiple financial years. Therefore, care should be taken when comparing data points across the table below. The data provided for the last financial year (2024/25) is provisional, and final figures will be published in UKRI’s 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts.
| Value of suspected grant fraud investigated | Confirmed | Recovered | Prevented |
2020/21 | £12,761,945.94 | £1,410,994.14 | £149,716.01 | £4,893,567.13 |
2021/22 | £7,285,776.67 | £3,559,382.41 | £1,044,626.51 | £1,152,805.96 |
2022/23 | £40,418,305.58 | £2,043,255.85 | £1,933,718.99 | £780,427.38 |
2023/24 | £1,930,369.00 | £5,454,586.74 | £1,395,426.05 | £13,536,403.29 |
2024/25 | £6,748,311.14 | £3,345,159.81 | £4,193,153.36 | £22,243.50 |
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many UK Research and Innovation grant fraud cases have been referred to the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, or other authorities in each of the past five years.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UKRI employs a team of trained counter fraud investigators working alongside an external service provider. Where appropriate, UKRI will hand over internal investigations to relevant authorities where criminal justice powers are required.
The table below sets out the total number of cases referred to the police and other authorities for financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25.
Financial Year | Total | Referred to Police | Referred to Insolvency Service | Referred to National Crime Agency |
2020-21 | 3 | 3 |
|
|
2021-22 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
|
2022-23 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
2023-24 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
|
2024-25 | 3 | 3 |
|
|
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the estimated financial loss due to fraud and error across UK Research and Innovation’s grant portfolio in each year since 2018; and what percentage of that was successfully recovered.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UKRI records confirmed cases of fraud and error; however, it has not historically produced estimates of fraud and error losses. The National Audit Office published good practice guidance in February 2025 on estimating and reporting fraud and error, and UKRI is drawing on this guidance to produce an estimate for 2024/25 that will be published in UKRI’s Annual Report and Accounts.
I refer the noble Lord to my answer to question HL7598 for data on UKRI fraud recovery.