Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are considering a phased reopening of the UK Biobank research analysis platform to prioritise researchers with fixed funding and submission deadlines.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working closely with UK Biobank to ensure that the Research Analysis Platform can securely reopen. Work required to secure the platform has been completed and health data providers will review an independent security assessment before agreeing to make their data available again. UK Biobank is planning a phased reopening of the Platform. Access will only be granted to researchers and institutes that are fully compliant in their obligations for mandatory training, annual reports, and data deletion for projects that have ended.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government when UK Biobank and health data providers will reopen access, at least on a phased and limited basis, to the UK Biobank research analysis platform.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working closely with UK Biobank to ensure that the Research Analysis Platform can securely reopen. Work required to secure the platform has been completed and health data providers will review an independent security assessment before agreeing to make their data available again. UK Biobank is planning a phased reopening of the Platform. Access will only be granted to researchers and institutes that are fully compliant in their obligations for mandatory training, annual reports, and data deletion for projects that have ended.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards completing the security review of the UK Biobank research analysis platform.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is working closely with UK Biobank to ensure that the Research Analysis Platform can securely reopen. Work required to secure the platform has been completed and health data providers will review an independent security assessment before agreeing to make their data available again. UK Biobank is planning a phased reopening of the Platform. Access will only be granted to researchers and institutes that are fully compliant in their obligations for mandatory training, annual reports, and data deletion for projects that have ended.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Leong on 15 September (HL2978) regarding animal experiments, how they intend to measure progress their objective, set out in the Replacing animals in science strategy (November 2025), of increasing and sustaining investment in animal replacement methods, if funding for such methods is not separately identified across Government; and whether they plan to establish a cross-government baseline against which future investment in human-specific research methods and technologies can be assessed.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
Progress in delivering the objectives of the strategy will be measured against a set of KPIs developed in consultation with delivery partners. A KPI framework covering the strategy's commitments will be published later this year.
While a unified reporting format that captures investments made through all relevant government departments and regulatory bodies is not yet available, individual delivery partners are developing and refining their reporting methodologies.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving the use of live animals.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
His Majesty’s Government has not made an estimate of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving the use of live animals. Public funding for research involving animals is provided through a range of organisations and programmes that support broader scientific and medical research objectives. These organisations and programmes have different data collection and reporting systems in place, and therefore this information cannot be consistently identified across Government.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving human-specific research methods and technologies.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
His Majesty’s Government has not made an estimate of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving human-specific research methods and technologies. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invests in a range of research that supports human-specific approaches, including organ-on-a-chip technologies, cell-based assays, functional genomics and computer modelling. These activities are generally categorised within broader research programmes, and funding for human-specific research methods is not separately identified across Government.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the current period of statutory paternity leave entitlement to more than two weeks.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Through the Employment Rights Act, the Government have made Paternity Leave a ‘day one’ right as of 6 April this year. This brings an extra 32,000 fathers and partners into scope of the entitlement.
However, we recognise that more can be done. That is why we launched the Parental Leave and Pay Review on 1 July 2025, which will consider all existing parental leave entitlements, including Paternity Leave and Pay, and is due to report in early 2027.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether all parts of the United Kingdom will have unfettered access to benefit from the UK-South Korea trade deal.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
The free trade agreement between the UK and South Korea will apply to all parts of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps the Northern Ireland Office has taken, in conjunction with the Department of Business and Trade, to ensure that Northern Ireland has no additional barriers to full involvement and participation in the UK-South Korea trade deal compared to other parts of the UK.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
The free trade agreement between the UK and South Korea will apply to all parts of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the free trade agreement with the government of South Korea, whether businesses in Northern Ireland will face any barriers or additional bureaucracy when importing goods from South Korea compared with the rest of the UK.
Answered by Lord Stockwood
The free trade agreement between the UK and South Korea will apply to all parts of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.