Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, approximately how many students from Queens University and Ulster University have benefited from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme in each of the past three years.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following number of projects have been awarded to each university. Each project would have employed a student to support its delivery. These figures include projects up to KTP Round 1, for which grant offer letters were issued in July 2026.
Year | Queens University | Ulster University |
23/24 | 9 | 2 |
24/25 | 8 | 7 |
25/26 | 8 | 2 |
26/27 | 4 | 3 |
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 1 June 2026 to WPQ 2683, how the Semiconductor Advisory Panel plans to speak to all geographies of the semiconductor community, especially in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Technology)
The Semiconductor Advisory Panel shapes our national approach on semiconductors by engaging with the full spectrum of the UK’s semiconductor industry, across the different strengths, priorities and issues across all parts of the UK, including Northern Ireland. This includes consideration of cross cutting issues like photonics and skills, both of which are important to Northern Ireland’s semiconductor cluster. Government-funded sector studies also support the Panel’s work, with the 2026 Semiconductor Sector Study providing an updated assessment of the size, composition and development of the sector across the UK, including its regional clusters and strengths. This study highlights Northern Ireland as an important UK semiconductor cluster with particular strengths in photonics and hardware security.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, if he will promote the next funding round of the Music Export Grant Scheme in February 2027 in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My department will promote the next funding round of the Music Export Grant Scheme (MEGS), due to open in February 2027, on the Government’s ‘Find a Grant’ site, Home - Find a grant and we will work with partners in Northern Ireland to promote the scheme to music businesses, including with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Output, the Oh Yeah Centre and Music Connections.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether hon. Members made representations to his Department on the UKRI/Innovate UK event for local businesses in Londonderry between 1 January 2026 and the date of the event on 20 May 2026.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Regarding the event titled ‘Innovate Local: Northern Ireland’ the Department did not receive any representations from Hon Members. UKRI received representations from an Hon Member in advance of the event relating to the location. The event was hosted by Innovate UK, part of UKRI, and was held in partnership with Invest Northern Ireland; bringing together business leaders, innovators, funders, and support organisations. Innovate UK and UKRI regularly engage with parliamentarians and stakeholders on their programmes and events across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether he plans to announce the outcome of the review of employment rights for unpaid carers before Christmas recess 2026.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
We intend to publish the review’s final report in early 2027.
Officials are working at pace to review the significant number of consultation responses whilst finalising the evidence that the review has gathered overall. Following the review’s conclusion, we will publish a government response to the consultation, findings from the review and the next steps needed to ensure that unpaid carers can balance work and care.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps he is taking to encourage applicants from Northern Ireland to apply for assistance from the Music Export Growth Scheme in this financial year.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My department publishes details of the Music Export Grant Scheme (MEGS) on the government’s ‘Find a Grant’ site, Home - Find a grant and we work with UK music partners to promote the scheme to music businesses across the UK, including Northern Ireland.
In MEGS funding round 25, which ran from May to August 2026 and the current funding round 26, for which applications closed on 7 September 2026, we received just one application from a Northern Ireland-based applicant out of 143 applications from both funding rounds. The next MEGS funding round 27 is scheduled to open in February 2027.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, which programme partners are involved in the National Quantum Strategy over the next five years.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2026, the Government launched the next phase of the national quantum programme, announcing up to £2bn to accelerate quantum technology development and adoption.
Programme delivery depends on partners including the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Innovate UK, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). They provide the expertise, infrastructure and capability needed to realise the UK’s quantum ambitions and deliver economic and societal benefits.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what has been the change in the number of interventions under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, in acquisitions of entities and assets in, or linked to, the UK that may pose national security risks in the past three years.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government publishes information on the operation of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 in its annual reports. The most recent report, covering the 2025/26 reporting period, can be found on GOV.UK (National Security and Investment Act - Annual Reports), accompanied by a spreadsheet which covers data for previous reporting periods. It shows that the Government made 9 final orders in 2025/26, 17 final orders in 2024/25 and 5 final orders in 2023/24.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what was the breakdown by constituency in the past two years of assistance offered to businesses by the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The British Business Bank does not specifically collect constituency data for businesses supported by the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland. As of December 2025, the British Business Bank announced that in the two years since its launch, the £70 million Investment Fund for Northern Ireland has directly invested £30 million into local firms. In addition, these investments into smaller businesses on differing stages of their growth journey have crowded in co-investment of around £45 million, bringing the total investment level to over £75 million.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will help ensure that Departmental officials undertake to meet with Members from Northern Ireland following requests for such a meeting regarding the steel tariffs issue.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Yes.