Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Government's policy paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: Future Partnership Paper, published on 6 September 2017, what discussions he has had with non-EU participants in EU science programmes on the UK adopting similar association frameworks to those which such non-EU participants have with the EU.

As the UK prepares to exit the European Union, the Secretary of State has regular engagement with both EU and Non-EU partners on a range of issues relating to international collaboration on science and innovation.

As set out in our paper, as the UK leaves the EU, one of our core objectives is to continue to collaborate with European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives.

There are a range of existing precedents for third country participation in EU scientific collaboration that the UK and the EU can build on - however, given the UK’s unique relationship with the EU and the mutual benefits from past collaboration, there may be merit in going further than this, if both parties agree.