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Written Question
Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund
Thursday 19th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, and his Department's press release entitled Pat McFadden vows to make the state more like a start up as he deploys reform teams across country, published on 9 December 2024, which Department’s budget allocation the £100m Innovation Fund will be drawn from.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

I refer the hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 11936 on 8 November 2024.

The Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund allocates £165 million to a range of projects in 2025-26, including support for foster care, delivering apprenticeships and planning reforms.

Partnering with Mayors and local leaders, the Autumn Budget 2024 allocated a further £100 million over the next three years to public service reform with a focus on experimentation and learning. This will complement and inform ongoing reform programmes being delivered by departments. The Government will announce more details on this in due course.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 18 Dec 2024
Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement

Speech Link

View all Chi Onwurah (Lab - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) contributions to the debate on: Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 18 Dec 2024
Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

Speech Link

View all Chi Onwurah (Lab - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) contributions to the debate on: Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Development Aid
Wednesday 18th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how the Official Development Assistance expenditure managed by the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was redistributed following the machinery of Government changes in February 2023.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

No Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget was allocated to my department when it was created in February 2023 through the machinery of Government changes.


Written Question
Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund
Wednesday 18th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much Official Development Assistance (ODA) expenditure has been provided to the (a) Newton Fund and (b) Global Challenges Research Fund (i) in total and (ii) in each year since their launch; when each fund will close; and how ODA funding previously allocated to each fund will be redirected once these funds close.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend, by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on research and development (R&D) is as follows:

(£m)

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Total

GCRF

391

379

220

139

84

1,430

Newton Fund

119

99

72

24

15

450

Due to the Machinery of Government change, and reporting of previous years’ spend alongside spend now reported under the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, disaggregated data for solely DSIT’s share pre-2019 is not currently available.

Both GCRF and the Newton Fund will come to a natural close by 31st March 2025. The Government will allocate future ODA to Departments as part of its standard Spending Review process.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday 17th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the equality impact assessment carried out prior to the introduction of the Advances Model artificial intelligence system.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP has considered the benefits and risks of publishing the results of Equality Impact Assessment. DWP has concluded it is not in the public interest to do so because it will undermine the effectiveness of the model as a fraud prevention control and therefore erode the ability to protect the public purse.

You can find further information in the ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2023-24 (publishing.service.gov.uk) page 112.


Written Question
Health: Research
Tuesday 17th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to his Department's press release of 12 December 2024 entitled £100 million public-private health research boost from which budget is the public sector funding coming; and what proportion is public investment.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access, and Growth (VPAG) Investment Programme is enabled by circa £400m of funding from scheme members over 5 years.

Approximately 75% of total Investment Programme funding will boost commercial clinical trials across the UK, including through the new Commercial Research Delivery Centres (CRDCs).

The CRCDs are a public-private investment which include funding from the VPAG Investment Programme and £71m additional funding in England from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Artificial Intelligence
Tuesday 17th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what timetable her Department has for conducting a fairness analysis on the Advances Model artificial intelligence system in respect of potential bias according to race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy, maternity or gender reassignment status.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP is committed to continue iterating the fairness analysis method and improving the data available for future analyses for the machine learning Advances model. Fairness analysis will be completed at regular intervals, the results of which will continue to inform regular decisions on the continued operation and improvement of the model as a reasonable and proportionate fraud prevention control.


Written Question
Research and Scientists: Visas
Tuesday 17th December 2024

Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on visas for (a) scientists and (b) researchers.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Government is committed to ensuring scientists and researchers have access to visas that work for them. The United Kingdom has a strong immigration offer for scientists and researchers, including the Skilled Worker and Global Talent routes, and we continually keep our policies under review.

The Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are in regular communication on a range of issues.


Division Vote (Commons)
17 Dec 2024 - National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill - View Vote Context
Chi Onwurah (Lab) voted Aye - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 345 Labour Aye votes vs 0 Labour No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 354 Noes - 202