Engineering Biology (Science and Technology Committee Report)

Baroness Willis of Summertown Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Willis of Summertown (CB)]

My Lords, I greatly appreciated taking part in this Science and Technology Select Committee investigation into engineering biology and extend my thanks to my noble friend Lady Brown for such excellent chairing of this report. The committee heard from many witnesses across industry and academia, and a number of clear themes emerged. I am going to focus my comments on one area that is close to my experience and expertise, and that is barriers from lack of opportunities for skills training.

Three areas of concern were raised by the witnesses. First, there is the training of the next generation of academics to lead the science. One of the problems with engineering biology is that, as a subject, it does not fit neatly within any undergraduate programme. Rather, it requires its researchers to have a knowledge of biology, biochemistry, chemistry, engineering, medicine, computer sciences and even earth sciences. As a result, we are relying almost entirely on PhD and master’s programmes to bring together those skills to then be able to apply them. Herein lies the problem.

There is currently really poor provision for engineering biology doctoral training programmes compared to other strategically important topics. In 2024, only two new doctoral training programmes were announced in engineering biology compared to 13 in AI. The situation is even worse than this because, if you drill down, as I did yesterday evening, the number of places advertised at Oxford on the engineering biology DTP for next year was six, while the number for AI—I am sorry, but the noble Lord next to me is probably leading one of them—is 38. We can immediately see what the issue is here. Essentially, we need greater provision for PhD places. Will the Minister tell us whether there are plans greatly to expand the training offers at doctoral level beyond that that has already been promised?

We also recommended that the Government should explore dedicated master’s courses in engineering biology. The Government’s response to our report said that they would explore options around this. Will the Minister say whether any progress has been made here?

The second issue we heard about from our witnesses was the urgent need for skills training opportunities for technicians in engineering biology. From the evidence we received, it is very unclear where training opportunities sit for technicians at present. If the industry expands, as we hope it will, this problem will only get worse. One route is via apprenticeships, and we heard a great anecdote from Professor Susan Rosser from the University of Edinburgh about how useful an apprenticeship can be for the university in its spin-out but also for the career development of the person involved. In essence, this individual came from working in a fast-food outlet—I think it was Kentucky Fried Chicken—to become a highly skilled automation biologist running and fixing robots and a huge bonus to their foundry as well. Key to creating more apprenticeships will be the role of Skills England, which we understand is still being set up. Can the Minister tell us what interactions DSIT has with Skills England to ensure that it is able to provide the critical training very focused on engineering biology?

Finally, we heard from a number of witnesses about the lack of skills needed for understanding the importance of engineering biology across government departments. Engineering biology currently sits under DSIT, but its outputs are highly relevant and important to Defra, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the DHSC, the Department for Education and others. Funding via the Treasury also needs to be brought into this mix. There needs to be shared communication and ownership across these departments. Can the Minister therefore tell us whether there are plans to increase skills training relating to the potential of engineering biology for civil servants across these many departments, alongside the appointment of a national sector champion for engineering biology to co-ordinate, as the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, raised?

In summing up, although I welcome the progress thus far, I would appreciate it if the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, could respond to some of the more specific points I have made, which I feel are holding us back from our full potential in this area at present.