Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to ensure the life sciences sector has the visa routes it needs to attract global talent to the UK.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to attracting top global talent to the UK. We are working with the Home Office and the Home Secretary to deliver the Immigration White Paper, ensuring that the very highly skilled can come to the UK. The Life Sciences sector already attracts talent through routes including the Global Talent and High Potential Individual visas and the recently published Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out clear actions HMG will take to attract international Life Sciences talent.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with cancer-related charities on taking steps to help support the UK to become the leading life sciences economy in Europe by 2030.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Life Sciences Sector Plan (LSSP) sets out a ten-year vision for enabling world-class R&D, making the UK an outstanding place for investment in life sciences, and driving healthcare innovation in the NHS. The plan received input from over 250 organisations including clinicians, NHS leadership, industry experts and charities (including cancer-related charities). The Office for Life Sciences Cancer Healthcare Goals Programme established the UK Cancer Research Strategy Forum (UKCRSF) to bring together the UK’s major cancer research funders to ensure coordination of strategic priorities in cancer research. The UKCRSF facilitated discussions relating to the cancer commitments of the LSSP.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure the National Oceanography Centre is meeting its nationwide remit.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) plays a key role in delivering oceanographic science and innovation across the UK. It provides access to a wide range of data, infrastructure, and research services to universities, government departments, and other partners nationwide.
NOC’s activities are designed to reflect and serve the whole of the UK. It collaborates with regional and national partners, including the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). SAMS is a key delivery partner in the NOC-led Marine Science National Capability programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. This partnership ensures that marine science infrastructure, data, and services are accessible to researchers and stakeholders across Scotland.
NOC’s performance and use of public funding are subject to regular review and evaluation and is overseen by an independent board to ensure accountability and alignment with national priorities.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to encourage academic research collaboration between UK and Ukrainian universities.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership sets out how the UK and Ukraine build long-term military, economic and cultural ties. This includes through science, technology and innovation collaboration – both to drive mutual growth and support Ukraine’s R&D sector. Since 2022, we have supported over 100 pairs of UK and Ukrainian universities through the University Twinning Programme, providing over £5 million of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Research England funding to work together. We also support UK and Ukrainian Innovators to work together through the UK-Ukraine Techbridge and over 170 Ukrainian researchers to continue their research at UK universities through the Researchers at Risk Programme.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the graduate route visa scheme on levels of innovation.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to making the UK the destination of choice for top international talent, who have an important impact on innovation and entrepreneurship in the UK. Their impact is particularly noticeable in the UK’s leading startup ecosystem; a quarter of Tech Nation-endorsed Global Talent Visa (GTV) holders are founders, and 39% of the UK’s fastest growing start-ups have at least one foreign born co-founder. In addition to providing a pipeline of entrepreneurs, international talent contributes significantly to innovation in key growth-driving sectors, and makes up 37% of higher education research staff.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2025 to Question 25126, whether his Department has now published a breakdown of spending on brain cancer research in 2023-24 for each UKRI body.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects and strategic investments, including research investigating the causes for and underpinning the development of treatments for Brain Cancer. The Medical Research Council (MRC) spent £2.86 million on brain cancer research in funding year 2023-24. MRC, Innovate UK, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council all support research in this area. UKRI also plays a key role in funding underpinning research which may not be attributable to a specific condition but will benefit medical research more generally.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he is taking steps to help protect authors who do not want their works to be used by AI models.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Copyright law already protects the rights of authors, who have several means of asserting their moral and economic rights. The Government published its consultation on Copyright and AI on 17 December 2024. This sought views on giving rights holders of creative works greater control over use of their material to train AI models and supporting their ability to be remunerated where it is used. The consultation closed on 25 February 2025.
The Government’s priority now is to review all responses to the consultation, to help inform its approach to copyright and AI. The Government will continue to engage extensively as it considers next steps, and its proposals will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to support the development of non-passenger carrying drones.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
My department supports the safe deployment of drones for commercial and public benefit, through R&D support and innovative regulation. Wider drone policy is led by the Department for Transport.
Since 2019, the Future Flight Challenge, administered by Innovate UK, has provided £125m of public funding for collaborative R&D and innovation in this area.
We established the Regulatory Innovation Office to support our ambition to be the best place in the world to innovate. ‘Drones and other autonomous technology’ is an initial focus area of the Regulatory Innovation Office.