Life Sciences Industrial Strategy

Debate between Lord Prior of Brampton and Lord Mendelsohn

Monday 23rd October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, we have an extraordinary record on clinical research, particularly on trials. In 2016 just under 700,000 patients in the UK were recruited for clinical trials, and the UK accounted for 29% of all trials that took place in the EU. So the story on clinical trials is a very good one and the NIHR is much to be complimented.

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, the excellent life sciences sector is dogged by uncertainty around Brexit. It is experiencing a chill in investment, has problems in attracting and retaining talent, is losing out on EU scientific grant funding and collaborations and has the potential loss of regulatory alignment with the European Medicines Agency to contend with. Does the Minister not therefore agree that that makes the case for the Government to adopt the target, set in Sir John Bell’s excellent report, to achieve an R&D spend of 2.6% of GDP from the 2015 level of 1.7%? That is the most available and crucial step that the Government can make. What is the case for not doing it today?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, there is a strong case for increasing the amount of resources that go into R&D in the UK. It is true that about 1.7% of GDP goes into research at the moment, whereas the OECD average is 2.4% and many countries are aiming at 3%—Germany is looking at 3.5%. We share that aspiration. As the noble Lord will know, we are increasing the amount of money that the Government spend on research by £2 billion a year from 2020-21 and an extra £4.7 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament, which is a very big increase. This is one of those areas where we can almost never spend enough.

Industrial Strategy

Debate between Lord Prior of Brampton and Lord Mendelsohn

Wednesday 28th June 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the sector strategies will be an important part of the industrial strategy and the life science strategy is probably one of the furthest forward. It will, I assure my noble friend, include proposals to improve access to the NHS.

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I am sure the Minister is aware of the Social Mobility Commission’s Time for Change report, which urges the Government to commit to speedy reform to avoid unsustainable social division, particularly with the regions being left behind with very uneven pay and skill levels, employment rates, job quality and access to high-level qualifications. Will the Government accept the commission’s call to use the industrial strategy to address this imbalance, which will, of course, show a more committed effort towards the regions than the fact that there have been three northern powerhouse Ministers in four years?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I would say that probably the single most important objective of the industrial strategy is to address some of the regional imbalances that the noble Lord refers to. We have seen London and the south-east do extremely well over the last few years, and we will carry on supporting London and the south-east to continue doing well, but there is no doubt that many parts of the country have been left behind, with many people on stagnant and falling earnings. That is absolutely a key priority for the strategy.