Horizon Europe

Lord Moynihan Excerpts

Monday 18th October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

Any remarks that increase uncertainty among the research and knowledge community are obviously unhelpful. The UK’s participation in Union programmes under the TCA and Northern Ireland protocol are separate issues. We have negotiated those issues and provided all the information. I can but reaffirm that the delays are not coming from our side, and we see them as distinctly unhelpful for all concerned.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, despite the delays, can my noble friend confirm that the content matter of the health cluster of Pillar 2 remains a vital area of research for the UK—namely, to promote and protect human health and well-being—as that is exactly what was envisaged with the new centre for health promotion announced by the Prime Minister in March of this year? Does she agree that that remains a priority area for far-reaching research here in the UK, so that we help people lead active and healthy lives and are better able to prevent and fight illnesses?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My noble friend is right to concentrate on the health benefits of many of the Horizon Europe projects. Over its lifetime, we expect the Commission to set aside more than €8 billion for the health research cluster, to which UK entities will be able to apply. One example may be the Joint Programming Initiative on Microbial Resistance, a collaboration of 28 countries across the globe tackling that resistance. The UK’s association to Horizon Europe will enable the UK to continue to collaborate with European partners to tackle health-related global challenges, to the benefit of everyone.