Engineering Biology (Science and Technology Committee Report)

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Grand Committee

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lady Brown—on this committee I like to think we are all noble friends—and to thank her for the way she led us through an exceptionally interesting inquiry. I endorse all the comments that she made about our staff and advisers, some of whom are present today.

I thank all our witnesses—I think there were about 30—and am grateful for the evidence that we received; there were about 50 submissions. It is important for the science community outside this House to understand that we really appreciate the effort they make to provide evidence for us and the expertise they bring to bear. Their contributions enrich the House and enable us to have a better understanding of an area such as this which is fast-moving and full of enormous potential. I, for one, as a member, learned a great deal over the course of our inquiry.

It is interesting to me that this is a precursor debate for the debate we are going to have in due course when our current inquiry gets published and is eventually debated. The reason why we have embarked on our current inquiry is precisely because this country is often a leader in discovery. We are pretty good at spin-outs and start-ups, but we are failing at scale-ups, hence our subtitle.

It is a pleasure to see the Minister present for this debate, because I, for one, would like to feel that he thinks that a committee such as ours and reports such as the one that we have produced are designed to help him, as a Minister, to argue the case within the Government, and are seen as constructive. I might add that it would also be helpful to have a Treasury Minister here because in future we will need a change in the Treasury’s mindset if we are to make real progress in the crucial role of scaling up. I hope that, at the very least, the Minister will be able to confirm today the £2 billion of funding over 10 years promised by the previous Government, although, to be honest, even that will not be enough. We need co-ordinated and sustained work across government, and that is not easy.

Engineering biology is about growth. Make no mistake: it is as much a part of the Government’s growth agenda as anything else. I wish to convey to Members not on the committee, those reading this and—heaven knows—the few people watching our proceedings today the excitement of the new era being opened up by engineering biology. It is a fast-developing field of science. The applications are vast and diverse and could provide immense benefits to the UK from medicines and manufacturing to making new materials, more resilient crops and addressing climate change. We have a fantastic science base and real potential but, as the committee’s former chair just said, there is a real risk that we are falling behind because other countries are catching up. Urgent action is needed, or we run the risk of seeing science and technology developed here but exploited elsewhere.

Only last Thursday, we had a Question in the Chamber about the decarbonisation of transport. Of course, one of the thrilling things about engineering biology is that, in the future, it may be possible to use molecules to, in effect, grow sustainable aviation fuel. That is just one of the ways in which engineering biology can have a huge effect on the future. It is always the same with new technology; the same is true of this House’s current interest in space. We need to identify areas of engineering biology at which the UK excels and which it is well placed to exploit, because, sadly, we cannot do everything.

I hope that the Minister will use this debate to reassure the committee that engineering biology will feature strongly in the industrial White Paper when it is published. I hope that he will be able to say more about the Regulatory Innovation Office—I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Willetts, will also speak about that—because we are well placed to play a leading role in setting standards internationally. Of course, a crucial challenge is where to go for scale-up funding, and initiatives such as the National Wealth Fund and the British Business Bank may help, but there is still a lack of significant funding.

In the short time I have available, I would like to convey some of the views of organisations outside this House. With a report that includes engineering and biology in the title, I went to both the organisations responsible for those subject disciplines. The Royal Society of Biology welcomed the report, saying “the use of bioengineering in plants can unlock multiple benefits in this sector by enhancing disease resistance and increasing productivity and nutritional content, provided that this is proportionate, scientifically justified and consistent and the potential benefits and costs of action or lack of action as a result of precaution are considered”. That is quite carefully phrased but, nevertheless, it recognises its importance. I hope the Minister can reassure the scientific community that in taking this area forward, there will be consultation with all the relevant scientific bodies.

When I got in touch with the Royal Academy of Engineering, it was more explicit on the issues that it wanted to raise. “Now is the time”, it said, “to ensure the longevity of engineering biology and build on its success to accelerate translation, demonstrate commercial scale and secure the value from such activities in the UK”. I could not put it better myself.

My time is almost up, but I want to make a final point. First, I endorse everything that the former chair said about the visa policy. It is all the more important when you consider what is going now on in the United States. Last week, Sir John Bell told our committee that he had people on the phone all the time saying, “When can we come and work in the UK?” This adds urgency to everything that we do. Whether or not you like the rhyming title of our report, the fact is that this is an opportunity that we must not miss, and I, for one, hope that we do not.

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[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I want to be absolutely clear: that is not the case for grants, whether they are for companies or academics; this applies only for a subset of contract research. I am looking at that to see what can be done, but it is a very small minority. I would not like noble Lords to go away thinking that it applies to companies overall—it does not if it is a grant.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, before the Minister sits down, could he say one word about the regional distribution of work in this area? I have had an interesting approach from the Tees Valley Combined Authority and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, saying that they have ambitions to be a regional hub in the north-east. Does my noble friend agree that it is important to spread out this work around the country and not concentrate it in one particular part?

[Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for that question. In fact, the biofoundries, the manufacturing side of this and the hubs are quite well spread out across the nations and, indeed, across the UK. I agree that it is important that we look at that as part of what we do, as we develop this as an important sector in the UK.