Frank McNally

The Government is committed to ensuring energy bills are affordable for all consumers – that’s why we are running to deliver our clean power by 2030 mission. And whilst we make this transition, we will do everything we can to support households we know are finding it tough.

We will continue to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 rebate off energy bills to 3.3 million eligible low-income households.

We are working with energy suppliers to ensure that they provide additional support to households that are struggling to pay their energy bills.

I’m aware that my Hon. Friend recently visited the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh to see their important work.

We have invested £12.5 million in the Institute to support the best discovery science in MND.

Since 2022, UKRI has awarded over £3 million to MND projects led by Scottish research organisations.

We will continue to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to support research into this terrible disease.

Funding has been distributed to 92 charities across the UK supporting 1200 doctoral students and early career researchers including over £330,000 to MND Scotland. MND research has benefited more generally from over £1.6 million of funding across the UK.

The Medical Research Council has awarded £1.9 million to MND projects led by Scottish research organisations, including researchers at various career stages.

The Secretary of State has had positive early engagement with Scottish Government Ministers and looks forward to working further on their shared priorities for Scotland. The Minister for Science, Research and Innovation also met with Scottish Government Ministers on 10^th October to discuss opportunities for shared investment opportunities across science and research.

The UK life sciences sector benefits from a diversity of medical research charity funders and officials meet with medical research charities across the UK on a quarterly basis through the DSIT Medical Research Charities Forum.

The Government does not intend to put forward the Law Commissions’ legislative proposals at this current time, due to the limited time available for introducing new legislation. However, we will publish a Government response as time and capacity allows, and will look to consider this issue in the future.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health will be meeting with the Law Commission shortly to discuss its report and draft bill on surrogacy, and to inform consideration of the Government’s next steps.

The Department funds research into motor neurone disease (MND) via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Government funding for MND research includes programmes that are working collaboratively across the United Kingdom. For example, an £8 million investment into the EXPErimental medicine Route To Success in ALS (EXPERTS-ALS) by the NIHR. EXPERTS-ALS is an early phase clinical research trial which screens for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND. Government funders have also invested £12.5 million to support the best discovery science at the UK Dementia Research Institute. Working with LifeArc, the MND Association, MND Scotland, and the My Name5s Doddie foundation, Government funders have also contributed £1.1 million to the £4.6 million MND Collaborative Partnership. Department research leads meet regularly with their counterparts in the devolved administrations to discuss research matters of common interest across the UK.

This Government has ensured the Spending Review delivers for Scotland. The Scottish Government is receiving an average of £50.9 billion per each year between 2026-27 and 2028-29, the largest real terms funding settlement since devolution. It also delivers on the Government’s Plan for Change in Scotland, with measures including providing development funding to advance the delivery of the Acorn carbon capture and storage project.

The Residential Property Developer Tax is a UK-wide tax. UK-wide tax revenue goes into the UK Consolidated Fund.

The Barnett formula then applies to changes in UK Government departmental budgets.

The Scottish Government receives around 25% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the UK. That translates to £8.5 billion more per year on average for the Scottish Government.

The Residential Property Developer Tax is a UK-wide tax. UK-wide tax revenue goes into the UK Consolidated Fund.

The Barnett formula then applies to changes in UK Government departmental budgets.

The Welsh Government receives around 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the UK. That translates to £3.5 billion more per year on average for the Welsh Government.