Integrated Review: Development Aid

Lord Patel Excerpts

Wednesday 28th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Patel (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Foreign Secretary said that ODA is important for boosting international research. Cuts to the development assistance grant of more than £120 million over a year will have a devasting effect on established research and development projects in middle and low-income countries. The cuts will affect 800 UK-led projects in 69 countries funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund. For example, there are the Royal Veterinary College’s projects in 10 countries involving 144 staff researching zoonosis and antibiotic resistance in poultry production. There is a cut of 67% in funding for projects in Jordan on understanding vaccine development for MERS-CoV, and a 73% funding cut to Royal Academy of Engineering projects in 17 countries involving hundreds of people that will affect leadership development programmes. The Royal Society’s Future Leaders: African Independent Research fellowship programme, which helps develop future academic science leaders, has had its funding cut by 67%, leading to the immediate termination of jobs.

The cuts are halting research in scientific collaborations and will undermine the Government’s ambition for the UK to be a science superpower and their pursuit of new forms of global relationship, giving the message that the UK is not a reliable partner. Global challenges require global partnership. With the UK at the helm of G7 and COP 26, now cannot be the time for the Government to row back on their ambition. Science is the heart of many solutions in health and climate that we desperately need right now. The Government having built relationships and leadership now want to step back. In financial terms, the cuts may seem modest, but their impact is huge. Once lost, research capacity takes time to build and, in the meantime, the UK will cede ground to other countries. What plans do the Government have for the global partnership in science, research and development with middle and low-income countries? Is there an understanding in the Government of the damage being done by these cuts?