Horizon Europe

Lord Berkeley Excerpts

Monday 18th October 2021 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Berkeley]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what caused the delay to the United Kingdom’s application to join the Horizon Europe research programme; and when they expect research institutes to be able to bid for new project funding.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

The UK and the EU agreed the terms for our association to Horizon Europe under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The UK stands ready to formalise our participation, but there have been persistent delays from the EU. I can assure the noble Lord that UK entities are already eligible to apply ahead of us formally associating, and we encourage UK researchers to take advantage of this opportunity.

[Lord Berkeley (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Minister for that Answer. However, friends who are involved in this in Brussels and the UK say that there are delays on both sides. I believe that there are protocols which still need to be adopted by a joint EU-UK committee, which is responsible for the UK’s participation in these programmes. Could the Minister confirm this? Does this committee exist and has it met? When do we expect it to reach decisions so that the money can start being spent?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I assure the noble Lord that the delays are not coming from our side. The TCA was ratified. It required pieces of EU programmes legislation to be in force, which is why we did not join Horizon Europe instantly when we signed the TCA last December. Iceland, Norway and Ukraine have all joined the programme recently but there is no such committee yet in existence and this Government continue to apply pressure to the EU Commissioner about this.