Chuka Umunna Portrait

Chuka Umunna

Liberal Democrat - Former Member for Streatham

First elected: 6th May 2010

Left House: 6th November 2019 (Defeated)


Chuka Umunna is not a member of any APPGs
4 Former APPG memberships
EU Relations, Proportional Representation, Social Integration, UK and Europe
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (International Trade)
21st Aug 2019 - 6th Nov 2019
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs)
21st Aug 2019 - 6th Nov 2019
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (International Development)
21st Aug 2019 - 21st Oct 2019
Home Affairs Committee
26th Oct 2015 - 3rd May 2017
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
7th Oct 2011 - 14th Sep 2015
Shadow Minister (Business, Innovation and Skills)
23rd May 2011 - 7th Oct 2011
Treasury Committee
12th Jul 2010 - 4th Jul 2011


Division Voting information

Chuka Umunna has voted in 1502 divisions, and 8 times against the majority of their Party.

12 Sep 2018 - EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) And Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 21 Labour Aye votes vs 143 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 331 Noes - 145
16 Dec 2015 - Representation of the People (Proportional Representation) (House of Commons) - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 16 Labour Aye votes vs 26 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 27 Noes - 164
2 Dec 2015 - ISIL in Syria - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 56 Labour No votes vs 139 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 211 Noes - 390
2 Dec 2015 - ISIL in Syria - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 65 Labour Aye votes vs 153 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 397 Noes - 223
11 Sep 2015 - Assisted Dying (No. 2) Bill - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 73 Labour Aye votes vs 91 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 118 Noes - 330
30 Apr 2012 - Sunday Trading (London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) Bill [Lords] (Allocation of Time) - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted Aye - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 4 Labour Aye votes vs 102 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 281 Noes - 112
15 Jun 2010 - Backbench Business Committee - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 29 Labour No votes vs 83 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 100 Noes - 331
15 Jun 2010 - Backbench Business Committee - View Vote Context
Chuka Umunna voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 53 Labour Aye votes vs 57 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 171 Noes - 263
View All Chuka Umunna Division Votes

All Debates

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat)
(130 debate interactions)
John Bercow (Speaker)
(34 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department for Education
(172 debate contributions)
HM Treasury
(156 debate contributions)
Department for Work and Pensions
(82 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
(3,739 words contributed)
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019
(2,024 words contributed)
Finance Act 2019
(981 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Chuka Umunna's debates

Latest EDMs signed by Chuka Umunna

28th October 2019
Chuka Umunna signed this EDM as a sponsor on Monday 28th October 2019

People's Vote

Tabled by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
That this House calls on the Government to bring forward legislation to hold a People’s Vote on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union or should leave the European Union on the final terms agreed between the Government and the European Union.
25 signatures
(Most recent: 5 Nov 2019)
Signatures by party:
Liberal Democrat: 19
Labour: 4
Plaid Cymru: 1
Independent: 1
15th October 2019
Chuka Umunna signed this EDM on Tuesday 15th October 2019

Barclays's withdrawal from the banking framework with Post Office Ltd

Tabled by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
That this House expresses alarm on learning that Barclays bank has decided to withdraw from a key element of the banking framework agreement with Post Office Ltd, which allows personal and business customers to access their bank accounts via 11,500 post office locations across the UK; notes that the banking …
32 signatures
(Most recent: 24 Oct 2019)
Signatures by party:
Liberal Democrat: 17
Labour: 8
Democratic Unionist Party: 2
Plaid Cymru: 2
Independent: 1
Conservative: 1
Scottish National Party: 1
View All Chuka Umunna's signed Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Chuka Umunna, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.


4 Urgent Questions tabled by Chuka Umunna

Monday 14th December 2015
Tuesday 1st April 2014
Monday 21st May 2012
Monday 23rd January 2012

5 Adjournment Debates led by Chuka Umunna

Tuesday 15th November 2016
Wednesday 28th October 2015
Friday 13th May 2011
Friday 4th March 2011
Thursday 16th September 2010

Chuka Umunna has not introduced any legislation before Parliament


Latest 50 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
50 Other Department Questions
10th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2015 to Question 2124, how many beneficiaries under each round of the Regional Growth Fund have by mutual agreement not drawn down the full amount that was made available to them.

The table below sets out the number of beneficiaries under Rounds 1 to 3 of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) who have by mutual agreement not drawn down the full amount that was made available to them.

Round 4 is still being concluded and subsequent rounds of the Fund are ongoing with many of the beneficiaries still within their payment period.

RGF Round

Number of beneficiaries*

1

9

2

34

3

29

  • These figures exclude projects where the balance of unclaimed grant is less than £10,000 as the minimum RGF grant is £1 million.
10th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on what date the review on the impact of tribunal fees announced by his Department in March 2015 was transferred to the Ministry of Justice; and for what reason that transfer took place.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for employment tribunal fees and the post-implementation review of the impact. The details of this review were announced on 11 June 2015 and it is expected to complete later this year.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills collated publically available information on employment tribunals and shared it with the Ministry of Justice in March 2015.

10th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2015 to Question 4159, how the level of fees paid to firms for their work in the disposal of shares in Royal Mail was determined; what key performance indicators were set and what outcomes were identified for that work; and whether a competitive tendering process took place.

The level of fees was determined on the basis of previous fees charged for similar services relating to the sale of Government assets and was subject to a competitive tendering process.

The key performance indicator and outcome in this instance was the delivery of a successful secondary sale of Royal Mail shares.

8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many consortia (a) containing and (b) not containing UK businesses have (i) made bids for and (ii) been successful in securing funding under the Eureka Eurostars programme in each financial year since 2010-11.

UK business engagement with the Eurostars programme in financial years 2010 – 2011 to 2014 - 2015.

FY 2010-2011(1)

FY 2011-2012

FY 2012-2013

FY2013-2014

FY 2014-2015

All Applications

745

728

354

594

655

Applications with UK Partners (a)

142

122

50

97

108

Applications without UK Partners (b)

603

606

304

497

547

All Funded Projects

145

139

67

103

160

Funded Projects with UK Partners (a)

22

26

10

24

30

Funded projects without UK Partners (b)

123

113

57

79

130

Number of calls

2

2

1

1

2

Notes:

  1. increases in the proportion of a project supported from 2010 mean that comparisons with earlier participant numbers would not be comparing like with like.
8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much public funding was spent by Innovate UK (a) in total and (b) under each of its programmes in each financial year since 2010-11; and what proportion of that spending was on research and development in each such year.

Innovate UK’s total expenditure by financial year and under each of its programmes since 2010/11 is:

Programme

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

Thematic (incl Collaborative R&D

259,486

124,824

132,449

186,312

181,029

Catalysts & Launchpads)

Micro/Nanotech Centres

334

2,009

887

598

919

Knowledge Transfer Networks

18,135

17,409

14,406

16,166

11,288

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

30,456

16,338

17,269

14,023

12,345

EU programmes

4,065

2,691

-828

194

5,660

Legacy

26

-

-

-

-

Small Business Research Initiative

1,647

2,824

3,264

5,889

4,957

Innovation Research Centres

50

-

-

-

-

European Space Agency

50,678

-

-

-

-

Grant for R&D/Smart

-

20,277

32,982

42,370

48,166

Catapult Centres

-

42,413

85,449

153,271

135,528

Non-core projects[i]

-

33,852

63,493

104,750

136,104

Innovation Vouchers

-

-

487

2,211

2,034

Total Programme

364,877

262,637

349,858

525,784

538,030

Total Expenditure

396,275

299,856

397,664

576,392

597,478

Funding under all the above programmes was provided in support of business-led innovation and R&D.

[i] These are programmes for which Innovate UK is the delivery partner for Government, for which specific additional funding is provided, but which fall outside Innovate UK’s core innovation programme budget, e.g. Aerospace Technology Institute.

8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the relationship is between the priorities of the Grand Challenges and the Eight Great Technologies programmes.

All of the Grand Challenges relate either to the Eight Great Technologies and/or to objectives published in the Science and Innovation Strategy December 2014.

8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what guidance he has issued to the Research Councils on deadlines for grant funding applications since May 2015; and what effect the forthcoming Spending Review has had on that guidance.

Neither ministers nor officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have issued any guidance to Research Councils on grant funding application deadlines since May 2015.

8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions Ministers and officials of his Department have had with the Research Councils on grant funding application deadlines.

Neither ministers nor officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have had any recent discussions with Research Councils on grant funding application deadlines. Deadlines for individual funding calls are a matter for the Research Councils or other funding partners where involved.

8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what external reviews or research he has commissioned on the future of the Research Councils.

In April 2014 BIS published the findings of the Triennial Review of the Research Councils, which examined their form, function and governance. In December 2014 the Government commissioned Sir Paul Nurse to examine how Research Councils can evolve to support research in the most effective ways.

8th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the comments made by a spokesperson for his Department as reported in The Guardian on 16 August 2015, when the final figure on the number of Growth Vouchers issued will be available.

The final figure on the number of Growth Vouchers issued is available now. This was provided in the response to Written Question UIN 9284. The final figure is 19,713.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2015 to Question 5250, which projects and programmes that have been funded from the public purse since 2010 relate to each of the Eight Great Technologies.

The Government identified “8 Great Technologies” in autumn 2012 to highlight key emerging technologies for the UK and increased investment by £600 million to accelerate their application and commercialisation.

The table provides a non-exclusive list of projects and programmes funded by BIS through Research Councils and InnovateUK relating to the “8 Great Technologies” from the time of publication to January 2015.

We do not routinely keep records classifying all publically-funded projects and programmes since 2010 according to the 8 Great Technologies, and it would only be possible to provide this information at a disproportionate cost.

Big Data:

Programme

Area

AHRC

Digital transformations in community research

BBSRC

Bioinformatics and biological resources fund

BBSRC

Big Data Infrastructure projects

BBSRC

Institutes coordination grants

BBSRC

Open Microscopy Environment (with Wellcome trust)

BBSRC

DNA Synthesis 2 capital investment

EPSRC

Capacity increase at Research Data Facility in Edinburgh

ESRC

Administrative Data Research Network

MRC

UK Health Informatics Research Institute

MRC

Capability development to better understand health and disease

MRC

Support to 100,000 Genomes project

NERC

Big Data Capital awards

NERC

Capability increase in JASMIN National Data Community facility

NERC

Environmental Research Workbench

STFC

Energy Efficiency Computing

STFC

Square Kilometre Array computing platform

IUK

Digital Economy Catapult

IUK

Open Data Insitute

IUK, SDTL & Research Councils

Data Exploration Programme

Satellites and Commercial Applications of Space:

Programme

Area

STFC campuses

Space science cluster capacity building

UKSA

National Space Technology Programme

IUK

Satellite Applications Catapult

IUK

Space applications

Robotics and Autonomous Systems:

Programme

Area

EPSRC

Centres of Excellence

EPSRC

Centres for Doctoral Training

EPSRC

Oxford Mobile Robotics Grant

SBRI & IUK

Intelligent Autonomy in the automotive sector

NERC, IUK & DSTL

Capability building in marine autonomous and robotics systems

IUK & EPSRC

Novel demonstration and commercialisation concepts in robotics

Synthetic Biology:

Programme

Area

BBSRC, EPSRC & MRC

Multidisciplinary Synthetic Biology Research Centres

BBSRC

Seed Funding

BBSRC

Research into DNA Synthesis

BBSRC

Training at Centre for Doctoral Training

IUK

National Biologics Manufacturing Centre

IUK

Synbio Innovation and Knowledge Cetnre and projects

Regenerative Medicine

Programme

Area

MRC, BBRC & EPSRC

UK regenerative Medicine Platform

IUK

Cell Therapy Catapult

Agri-Science

Programme

Area

BBSRC

Innovation Incubator space at Edinburgh

BBSRC

Innovation and diffusion Campus for food and renewable energy at Aberystwyth

BBSRC

Conference centre and shared resources hub

BBSRC

Molecular farming facility at Norwich Research Park

BBSRC, DfID & IS

Agri-tech Catalyst

IS

Innovation Centres

Advanced Materials:

Programme

Area

EPSRC

Research projects

EPSRC

Advanced Materials for healthcare

SPSRC & DECC

Irradiated materials investment in National Nuclear User Facility

STFC

Advanced materials beamline at Diamond

IUK

National Composites Centre

EPSRC

Research programmes incorporating functional materials

EPSRC, STFC & IUK

Sir Hendry Royce Institute for advanced materials

Energy Storage:

Programme

Area

EPSRC

Grid-scale efficient energy storage

EPSRC, IUK & DECC

Energy Catalyst Fund

EPSRC

Novel solutions for energy storage

IUK

Integrated Energy Challenge

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what work his Department is undertaking to review and evaluate rules on company takeovers.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is currently neither reviewing nor evaluating rules on company takeovers.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many employees of McKinsey are working on his Department's spending review; for how long those employees have been so engaged; what remit those staff have been given; what the cost to the public purse is of such staff; and if he will list which organisations and individuals his Department has consulted during that spending review.

There are four pieces of work where McKinsey have been providing assistance to the Department:

  • operating costs across the Department and Partner Organisations;
  • the cost of goods and services procured from third parties, led by the Crown Commercial Service;
  • a review of the Student Loans Company; and
  • cost drivers in Further Education, jointly with the Department for Education and Her Majesty’s Treasury.

There are no McKinsey employees working directly on the Department’s Spending Review.

The Department has consulted with our key Partner Organisations during the Spending Review process and Her Majesty’s Treasury have undertaken a public consultation on the Spending Review which closed on 4th September.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what reviews his Department is conducting with assistance from McKinsey.

There are four pieces of work where McKinsey have been providing assistance to the Department:

  • operating costs across the Department and Partner Organisations;
  • the cost of goods and services procured from third parties, led by the Crown Commercial Service;
  • a review of the Student Loans Company; and
  • cost drivers in Further Education, jointly with the Department for Education and Her Majesty’s Treasury.

There are no McKinsey employees working directly on the Department’s Spending Review.

The Department has consulted with our key Partner Organisations during the Spending Review process and Her Majesty’s Treasury have undertaken a public consultation on the Spending Review which closed on 4th September.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what evaluation or evidence-gathering the Government (a) has carried out or commissioned and (b) plans to carry out into (i) the Grand Challenges programme announced on 17 December 2014 and (ii) the Eight Great Technologies.

All Grand Challenges Fund projects are subject to detailed business cases in accordance with HM Treasury requirements. The projects are evaluated by analytical, finance and project specialists within BIS, and the relevant Research Council.

Evidence underpinning the “Eight Great Technologies” was set out in the Eight Great Technologies pamphlet accompanying David Willetts’ speech of the 24th of January 2013 [Eight Great Technologies, David Willetts, Policy Exchange 2013].

Projects that form part of the Grand Challenges programme are supported from the £6.9 billion science capital budget, which was subject to a public consultation launched in December 2014.

Innovate UK and the Research Councils work together to explore and develop new approaches for moving potentially high impact technologies more rapidly from the research base into commercial reality.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which (a) HEIs, (b) Research Institutes, (c) Catapult Centres and (d) other research institutions funded by HEFCE are located within the boundaries of two local enterprise partnerships.

This information is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made on the Great Challenges programme; and what recent steps the Government has taken to support that programme.

Good progress has been made in relation to the Grand Challenges Fund, with approved business cases enabling numerous projects to start. For example the Hartree Centre at Daresbury, a ground-breaking collaboration between IBM and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, has leveraged in £200m of IBM investment to work on data centric and cognitive computing.

All projects forming part of the Grand Challenges Fund were announced subject to detailed business cases in accordance with published HM Treasury requirements. All projects falling within the fund are receiving support from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Research Councils.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received on the future of the Research Councils.

The Government has commissioned Sir Paul Nurse to lead an independent review of the Research Councils. As part of the review, there was an open call for evidence which received over 250 responses. Sir Paul is supported by Advisory and Reference Groups representing a range of academic disciplines, universities, business and HE organisations as well as the Research Councils themselves.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) assessment criteria and (b) key outputs and performance indicators have been set for (i) the Eight Great Technologies and (ii) the Grand Challenges programme announced on 17 December 2014.

The main assessment criteria for deciding priorities for the list of 8 Great Technologies were:

a. The technology has to be an important area of scientific advance;

b. Britain has to have a distinctive capability in this area; and,

c. the technology should have reached the stage where identifiable commercial opportunities are emerging.

These criteria were published, together with additional evidence and analysis, in the pamphlet accompanying David Willetts’ speech of the 24th of January 2013 [Eight Great Technologies, David Willetts, Policy Exchange 2013]:

Projects and programmes under the 8 Great Technologies banner are subject to their own evaluation processes as appropriate.

The Grand Challenges assessment criteria were published as part of a public consultation document in May 2014 (these being: excellence, affordability, impact, skills and leverage). Along with the published consultation criteria, additional criteria such as value for money and deliverability are used to assess Grand Challenge projects.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many members of staff are employed in the HEFCE Equality Challenge Unit.

The Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) and HEFCE are two separate organisations. The ECU employs 28.2 full-time equivalent staff and HEFCE employs 242 full-time equivalent staff.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many Met Office staff are on secondment to (a) Government and (b) other publicly-funded departments, agencies and bodies.

At present there are 4 Met Office staff on secondment to Government departments and agencies and 10 seconded to other publicly-funded bodies.

No Met Office staff are on secondment to the armed forces. At present 52 staff are members of the Mobile Met Unit, a sponsored RAF reserve unit of meteorological specialists. There are 192 Met Office staff based at military sites in the UK and overseas.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Met Office spent on research and development in each financial year since 2010-11.

A large number of Government and publicly‑funded bodies subscribe to Met Office services. Revenue from this sector in 2014-15 was approximately £187m, broken down as follows: (a) Public Weather Service - £114m (b) Defence - £33m and (c) Government strategic sectors - £40m. The terms of service provision are subject to periodic review and renegotiation.

Commercial revenue was £33m in 2014-15.

Met Office expenditure on research and development is detailed in its annual report and accounts. The amount spent in the last 5 years is set out below.

Financial Year

£m

2010-11

45

2011-12

43

2012-13

45

2013-14

45

2014-15

50

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding from the public purse was allocated to subscription to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in each financial year since 2010-11; what funding has been so allocated in the present financial year; what estimate he has made of the cost of such subscription in future financial years; and from which departmental budget such subscriptions are paid.

UK contributions to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts since 2010/11 are set out below. The annual contribution is likely to be within a similar range in future. These contributions are met through the Public Weather Service budget which is primarily funded by my Department.

Financial Year

£m

2010/11

6.5

2011/12

6.7

2012/13

6.8

2013/14

6.9

2014/15

7.0

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the budgetary implications for the Met Office of the termination of its contract with the BBC.

The BBC’s decision not to shortlist the Met Office for its next contract was a commercial decision by the BBC and was communicated by Met Office to my officials and myself as soon as they became aware that they were not being selected for the next stage of the procurement. The ending of the contract in autumn 2016 is not expected to have significant budgetary implications.

Since the communication of the decision I and my officials have been in dialogue with the Met Office and colleagues elsewhere in government in connection with National Severe Weather Warning service, and in turn with the BBC. The Weather Services Agreement between the Met Office and BBC does not include a research element.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which collaborations with (a) universities, (b) research institutes and (c) research centres the Met Office is engaged in; when each such secondment is due to expire; and how many such collaborations have been discontinued since 2010.

The Met Office collaborates with a number of universities and research organisations in the UK and overseas to advance the science and skills in meteorology, climate science and related subjects. This involves the placement of scientists between the Met Office and these bodies. Visits can be for short or longer periods of time, but are not generally recorded as formal secondments. During 2014-15, 149 scientists were recorded as visiting the Met Office for collaborative purposes. Extensive collaboration also takes place in the writing of scientific papers.

Met Office records of current and previous formal secondments to universities and research organisations are shown in the table below. It has no record of inward secondments from these organisations in the last 5 years.

Year

Secondments

2010-11

0

2011-12

0

2012-13

9

2013-14

18

2014-15

14

2015-16

10

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Medical Research Council has spent on research projects relating to the treatment of cancer in each financial year since 2010-11.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government supports medical and clinical research.

The most recent information available on the MRC’s expenditure on cancer research is set out in the table. The data includes research into the biology, causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer as well as research on outcomes. A breakdown showing expenditure on research directly related to treatment is not currently available.

Year

MRC spend on cancer research (£m)

2010

£107.7m

2011

£112.1m

2012

£ 95.8m

2013

£ 79.9m

2014

£ 76.2m

Source: National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Research Database (calendar year figures).

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which Government and publicly-funded bodies and agencies subscribe to Met Office services; what the value is of each such subscription; and what the termination date is of each such subscription.

A large number of Government and publicly‑funded bodies subscribe to Met Office services. Revenue from this sector in 2014-15 was approximately £187m, broken down as follows: (a) Public Weather Service - £114m (b) Defence - £33m and (c) Government strategic sectors - £40m. The terms of service provision are subject to periodic review and renegotiation.

Commercial revenue was £33m in 2014-15.

Met Office expenditure on research and development is detailed in its annual report and accounts. The amount spent in the last 5 years is set out below.

Financial Year

£m

2010-11

45

2011-12

43

2012-13

45

2013-14

45

2014-15

50

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Government's press release of 20 May 2015, on machinery of government: Shareholder Executive and UK financial investments, what consultation was undertaken prior to the transfer of the Executive from his Department to HM Treasury; what factors were taken into account in reaching that decision; on what evidence that decision was based; on what date plans were first discussed by (a) officials and (b) Ministers; and when the formal transfer took place.

The decision was taken by the Prime Minister and communicated in May 2015 to merge the functions of the Shareholder Executive and UK Financial Investments (UKFI) in to a new wholly-owned Government Company, UK Government Investments (UKGI). Discussions with staff also began in May and will continue until the transition is complete.

The new company will make it easier for government experts to work together to deliver the sale of a wide range of publicly-owned assets in a way that secures good value for money for taxpayers. It will help the government achieve its aim of running large, publicly-owned delivery bodies more efficiently, as well as learning from private sector expertise in improving the performance of taxpayer-owned assets not being sold.

UKGI will be established in the autumn, with the intention of completing any transfer activity for the start of the next financial year.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when Ministers were informed of the BBC's decision to terminate its contract with the Met Office; and by what means they were so informed.

The BBC’s decision not to shortlist the Met Office for its next contract was a commercial decision by the BBC and was communicated by Met Office to my officials and myself as soon as they became aware that they were not being selected for the next stage of the procurement. The ending of the contract in autumn 2016 is not expected to have significant budgetary implications.

Since the communication of the decision I and my officials have been in dialogue with the Met Office and colleagues elsewhere in government in connection with National Severe Weather Warning service, and in turn with the BBC. The Weather Services Agreement between the Met Office and BBC does not include a research element.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) fellowships and (b) other outputs have been delivered under the Newton Fund in each of the last five years.

The Newton Fund was launched in April 2014. In the first year of the fund (FY14/15) the following awards were made:

a) 287 Fellowships

b) 1164 other awards

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has for future projects under the Foresight Project of the Government Office for Science.

The Government Office for Science Foresight programme is directed by Sir Mark Walport, Government Chief Scientific Advisor. Foresight projects examine either an important public policy issue where science might be part of the solution, or a scientific topic where potential applications and technologies are yet to be realised. Foresight’s two current projects are 'Future of an ageing population' and ‘Future of cities’. The Government Office for Science actively considers topics for future projects, and welcomes suggestions.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what public funds have been committed to the Sciencewise project in the next five financial years.

The Sciencewise programme like all other areas of spend is subject to the Spending Review and future budget allocations will be based on the outcome of the review.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what measure of inflation his Department uses for research and development spending; and what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) consulted in forming his policy.

The Department currently uses the GDP deflators published by the Treasury to remove the effect of inflation from research and development (R&D) spending. The Office for National Statistics carried out some work to develop an R&D deflator; however, this work did not include a forward looking deflator so was not suitable for applying to future expenditure. We have not commissioned any research, but continue to monitor new developments in this area.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, who the chief scientific advisers are; when each such adviser took up their post; and which chief scientific adviser posts currently remain unfilled.

The Chief Scientific Advisers work across departments in partnership with policy makers to ensure the very best in scientific evidence is used in the policy process. Where posts are unfilled, the Government Office for Science works with departments to ensure they have access to the relevant expertise and evidence. The table below contains the current position on CSAs.


Dept

CSA

Appt. Dates

BIS

Tim Dafforn

July 2015

CLG

Stephen Aldridge (interim)

DCMS

Vacant

DECC

John Loughhead

Oct 2014

DEFRA

Ian Boyd

September 2012

DfE

Tim Leunig

March 2014

DfID

Chris Whitty

June 2009

DfT

Phil Blythe

June 2015

DH

Sally Davies

June 2010

DWP

Pui-Ling Li

December 2014

FCO

Robin Grimes

February 2013

FSA

Guy Poppy

August 2014

HMT

Susan Acland-Hood

May 2015

HO

Bernard Silverman

April 2010

MOD

Vernon Gibson

July 2012

National Security

Nick Jennings

June 2010

MOJ

Vacant

N.Ireland

Vacant

Scotland

Vacant

Wales

Julie Williams

September 2013

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what policy evaluations have been carried out by external organisations for her Department and its agencies in each financial year since 2010-11; whether the output of those evaluations was published; which organisation carried out each such evaluation; and what the value of each contract to provide that evaluation was.

A table that sets out the externally commissioned evaluations for DECC since 2010-11 is attached below.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2015 to Question 7500, how many vouchers were redeemed under the Growth Vouchers scheme.

As of 8 September, 6,731 vouchers had been redeemed with total value over £11m.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what provision he made for Growth Vouchers to be redeemed after the deadline for their use passed.

Provision was made for businesses to redeem their voucher after the expiry date if the delay was beyond their control.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which patents the Medical Research Council holds; on what date each such patent will expire; and what revenue was generated by each such patent in each financial year since 2009-10.

I have asked the Medical Research Council to respond directly to the Hon Member.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has for the future of the Growth Vouchers scheme.

The scheme is now closed for applications and the programme is in the evaluation stage. Two initial result reports have been published online at gov.uk and the next report will be published later this year.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on what dates the Council for Science and Technology met in the last 12 months; on what dates and who was in attendance at each such meeting.

Meetings and attendance details for the Council for Science and Technology can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/council-for-science-and-technology/about/our-governance

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what threshold his Department set for the number of Growth Vouchers used to provide robust evidence-gathering under the programme.

We required at least 19,000 businesses to complete a business needs assessment (either online or face-to-face) to provide robust evidence gathering under the programme. 27,117 businesses completed this assessment. There was no threshold set for the number of vouchers used.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to his Answer of 6 July 2015 to Question 4950, what funds from the public purse (a) were spent and (b) he plans to spend on the HEFCE UK Research Partnership Investment Fund in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2020-21 in real terms.

The following expenditure has occurred and is planned on the HEFCE UK Research Partnership Investment Fund:

Financial Year

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

Total to date

cash (£m)

138

160

68

135

501

Real (14-15 prices) (£m)

140

160

67

131

499

The detailed expenditure profile for the additional £400m for expenditure out to 2021 for UK RPIF, announced in Budget 2015, will be announced in due course.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to publish the findings and results of the Growth Vouchers scheme.

The scheme is now closed for applications and the programme is in the evaluation stage. Two initial result reports have been published online at gov.uk and the next report will be published later this year.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what public funding has been allocated to support the Astrea programme; what applications for funds for that programme his Department has received and under which Government programmes; and what plans he has for future funding of that programme.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has provided grant support of £32M to support three programmes; ASTRAEA 1 and 2 and 3A since 2006.

In 2015, the ASTRAEA consortium applied for additional support for a £55M collaborative programme via the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), requesting a £26M grant. The application was not approved.

We continue to work with the ASTRAEA consortium and the wider Unmanned Air Vehicle community on how best to support the development of this market and will consider requests for funding support that deliver value for money for the UK.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what forecasts he has made of revenues likely to accrue to the Medical Research Council from patents in future financial years; and how much the Medical Research Council generated from patents in each financial year since 2009-10.

I have asked the MRC to respond to the Hon Member directly.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) their counterparts in the Department for Culture Media and Sport and (b) the BBC on the termination of the BBC's contract with the Met Office.

The BBC’s decision not to shortlist the Met Office for its next contract was a commercial decision by the BBC and was communicated by Met Office to my officials and myself as soon as they became aware that they were not being selected for the next stage of the procurement. The ending of the contract in autumn 2016 is not expected to have significant budgetary implications.

Since the communication of the decision I and my officials have been in dialogue with the Met Office and colleagues elsewhere in government in connection with National Severe Weather Warning service, and in turn with the BBC. The Weather Services Agreement between the Met Office and BBC does not include a research element.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what changes have been made to Research Council deadlines for grant funding applications since May 2015.

Across the Research Councils, the following changes to deadlines for grant applications have been made since 1 May 2015:

• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council – two call deadlines have changed since May 2015. One call had its deadline extended by two and a half weeks, and another was extended by almost a month.

• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council – one call deadline has changed since May 2015. This call had its deadline extended by three weeks.

• Natural Environment Research Council - six call deadlines have changed since May 2015. All calls have just had the deadline extended by one month on average.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what policy evaluations have been carried out by external organisations for his Department and its agencies in each financial year since 2010-11; whether the output of those evaluations was published; which organisation carried out each such evaluation; and what the value of each contract to provide that evaluation was.

The Department will not be publishing the McKinsey work on the grounds that to do so would be likely to reduce the Government’s ability to protect the policy-making process and maintain the delivery of effective Government.

The Department does not hold centrally a record of all external reports, or policy evaluations, that have been carried out by external organisations for the Department and its Agencies. To produce such a list dating back to May 2010/ financial year 2010-11 respectively would incur disproportionate cost.

7th Sep 2015
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff secondments (a) to and (b) from (i) universities, (ii) research institutes and (iii) research centres the Met Office has in place; and how many such secondments took place in each year since 2010.

The Met Office collaborates with a number of universities and research organisations in the UK and overseas to advance the science and skills in meteorology, climate science and related subjects. This involves the placement of scientists between the Met Office and these bodies. Visits can be for short or longer periods of time, but are not generally recorded as formal secondments. During 2014-15, 149 scientists were recorded as visiting the Met Office for collaborative purposes. Extensive collaboration also takes place in the writing of scientific papers.

Met Office records of current and previous formal secondments to universities and research organisations are shown in the table below. It has no record of inward secondments from these organisations in the last 5 years.

Year

Secondments

2010-11

0

2011-12

0

2012-13

9

2013-14

18

2014-15

14

2015-16

10