Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts
Tuesday 9th February 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Jack Lopresti Portrait Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)
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What steps his Department is taking to support UK research and development.

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call the Secretary of State—and congratulations.

Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Kwasi Kwarteng)
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Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

We announced at the spending review an investment of £14.6 billion in R&D for 2021-22. This will no doubt cement our status as a science superpower here in the UK. We are taking forward the ambitious commitments in the R&D road map, which was published only last year, and we are of course continuing co-operation with the EU through association with the Horizon Europe programme.

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Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait Kwasi Kwarteng
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I am absolutely aware of that issue. It is almost inevitable that we will be asked by the CCC to include those contributions in our budgets. As COP26 hosts, we will obviously want to hold ourselves to the highest standards, in terms of carbon emissions.

Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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I am suspending the House for a few minutes to enable the necessary arrangements for the next business to be made.