Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 11881 on Research Finance, if her Department will publish a tabular summary of Capital DEL allocated in the Budget to research and development by Department for 2024-25.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The departmental research and development (R&D) allocations for 2024-25 are set out in the table below. The numbers represent departmental plans as of Autumn Budget 2024, which reflect underspends identified through the Public Spending Audit 2024-25, including as a result of lower Horizon association costs than previously budgeted for.
In 2025-26, the government has allocated £20.4 billion for investment in R&D – more than ever before which reflects its focus on growth. This includes the protection of £6.1 billion for core research.
Department | 24-25 R&D (£m) |
DSIT | £ 12,500m* |
DHSC | £ 2,000m* |
MOD | £ 1,800m* |
DESNZ | £ 1,000m* |
DEFRA | £ 400m* |
SIA | £ 400m* |
FCDO | £ 500m* |
DBT | £ 300m* |
DfT | £ 300m* |
DCMS | £ 50m** |
DfE | £ 50m** |
HO | £ 30m** |
DWP | £ 40m** |
MHCLG | £ <10m |
FSA | £ <10m |
MOJ | £ <10m |
HMRC | £ <10m |
HMT | £ <10m |
TOTAL | £ 19,524m |
*rounded to nearest £100m
**rounded to nearest £10m
Individual departments have been rounded to reflect the possibility that allocations can change as a result of in-year inter-department budget transfers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2024 to Question 12054 on Department for Business and Trade: Finance, whether the figures referenced are included in the £20.4 billion mentioned on page 65 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The £20.4bn referenced on page 65 of the Budget document refers to all departmental research and development budgets for 2025/2026.
This includes a research and development allocation for the Department for Business and Trade for 2025/2026 of £329m. This includes part of the over £2bn for the automotive sector and £975m for the aerospace sector announced over the next 5 years to 2029/2030 at Budget. The £520m announced for life sciences is not included in the overall figure as it is not research and development.
The overall allocations for the automotive and aerospace sectors in the Budget are multi-year commitments, with detail to be agreed through the second phase of the Spending Review. This multi-year allocation includes R&D and Capital funding.
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 paragraph 3.19 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, whether the funding for growth-driving sectors will be allocated to the Department for Business and Trade.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This government is committed to delivering a modern Industrial Strategy. The Budget took a first step towards supporting our growth driving sectors, by providing funding in 2025-26 for life sciences manufacturing, allocated to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and to automotive and aerospace manufacturing, allocated to the Department for Business and Trade.
The Budget also confirmed long-term funding for these sectors - £975m for aerospace, over £2bn for automotive, and up to £520m for life sciences supporting the development of new technology, further details of this funding will be set out through the Spending Review and publication of the full Industrial Strategy in Spring 2025.
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 paragraph 3.19 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, if she will publish an allocation breakdown of the £20.4 billion spending on research and development for 2025-26.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To fully harness the potential of the UK's excellent science base and to foster a dynamic investment economy, the Budget protects record levels of government research and development (R&D) investment with £20.4 billion allocated in 2025-26. This is allocated as per the table below.
Department | 25-26 R&D* |
DSIT | £13,936m |
DHSC | £2,036m |
MOD | £1,685m |
DESNZ | £730m |
DEFRA | £512m |
SIA | £439m |
FCDO | £335m |
DBT | £329m |
DfT | £154m |
DCMS | £63m |
DfE | £50m |
HO | £45m |
DWP | £39m |
MHCLG | £9m |
FSA | £8m |
MOJ | £3m |
HMRC | £2m |
HMT | £1m |
TOTAL | £20,376m |
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 Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, if her Department will publish a tabular summary of Capital DEL allocated in the Budget to research and development by Department.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To fully harness the potential of the UK's excellent science base and to foster a dynamic investment economy, the Budget protects record levels of government research and development (R&D) investment with £20.4 billion allocated in 2025-26. This is allocated as per the table below.
Department | 25-26 R&D* |
DSIT | £13,936m |
DHSC | £2,036m |
MOD | £1,685m |
DESNZ | £730m |
DEFRA | £512m |
SIA | £439m |
FCDO | £335m |
DBT | £329m |
DfT | £154m |
DCMS | £63m |
DfE | £50m |
HO | £45m |
DWP | £39m |
MHCLG | £9m |
FSA | £8m |
MOJ | £3m |
HMRC | £2m |
HMT | £1m |
TOTAL | £20,376m |
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the UK’s global competitiveness in green finance.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Government has taken world-leading action to green the financial system, and we remain fully committed to that work. The action we have taken is part of the reason that London has been consistently ranked as the world’s top financial centre in the Global Green Finance Index.
We were the first major country to publish a Green Finance Strategy in 2019 and in March 2023 we published an updated Green Finance Strategy. It set out our ambitious work on green finance, providing further clarity on key policy areas such as our ambition to become a Net Zero Aligned Financial Centre, and next steps under our Sustainability Disclosure Requirements framework, including transition plan disclosures, and next steps on the UK Green Taxonomy. In addition, as part of the 2024 Spring Budget, the Government has announced that it will proceed with developing a regulatory regime for ESG ratings providers, aiming to improve transparency and promote good conduct.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the advisory market to support businesses claiming R&D tax relief.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HMRC recognises that agents play a vital role in the Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs regime and around 90% of R&D claims involve an agent.
Agents offer valuable support for their clients to access the relief they are entitled to.
The Government expects all tax agents, including R&D advisers, to adhere to the HMRC Standard for Agents, which sets out HMRC’s expectations for all individuals and businesses involved in professionally representing or advising taxpayers. In addition, the government is continuing to explore options to raise standards in the tax advice market.
HMRC’s dedicated R&D Anti-Abuse Unit, focuses on the most complex and high-risk cases including tackling agents actively promoting the R&D schemes to businesses unlikely to be eligible. This includes working with the Advertising Standards Agency to remove false advertising by agents.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made in reducing R&D tax credit fraud.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
In July 2023 HMRC published their compliance approach to R&D reliefs (HMRC's approach to Research and Development tax reliefs) setting out the scale of non-compliance in the R&D schemes, action taken by the government to date and how HMRC are tackling R&D non-compliance.
HMRC will set out steps it is taking to tackle error and fraud in its Compliance Action Plan, to be published in due course.
HMRC will also provide updates on the level of error and fraud for R&D tax credits in their Annual Report and Accounts 2023-2024 to be published in July 2024.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to introduce a new help-to-buy ISA.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Help to Buy: ISA (launched in 2015) allows prospective first-time buyers to obtain a government bonus of up to £3,000 towards their first home. This scheme closed to new accounts on 30 November 2019, but existing Help to Buy: ISA holders can continue saving into their account until 30 November 2029 and can claim the government bonus until November 2030.
Since April 2017, adults under 40 have been able to open a Lifetime ISA (LISA) and save up to £4,000 each year until they reach 50. The Government provides a 25 per cent bonus on all LISA contributions within these limits. Savings invested in a LISA can be withdrawn from the age of 60 but funds can be withdrawn at an earlier stage if used as a deposit for the account holder’s first home on a property worth up to £450,000. Help to Buy: ISA account holders will be able to transfer their funds to a LISA within the LISA’s £4,000 annual limit.
The Chancellor keeps all tax policy under review.
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 HMRC's policy paper entitled Merger of current small or medium enterprise (SME) and Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) schemes, updated on 23 November 2023, whether his Department has assessed the potential impact of the proposed merger on individual sectors.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
R&D tax relief will continue to be available to all sectors following the merger of the small or medium enterprise (SME) and Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) schemes.
The government will monitor the impact on claimants of R&D relief policy changes, including on sectors, through information collected from claims and claim notifications.
HMRC publish annual statistics on the sectoral distribution of R&D tax credit claims https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/corporate-tax-research-and-development-tax-credit