Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the regional disparities in Private Non Profit R&D funding in 2019 in the ONS dataset Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, by region; and what steps he is taking to help increase the proportion of Private Non Profit R&D investment outside the Greater South East.

We recognise the important role that the private non-profit sector, such as charities, play in both funding and performing R&D. In 2019, the private non-profit sector funded £1,766 million worth of R&D and performed £843 million of R&D. The Greater South East contributes the highest share of private non-profit expenditure on R&D, with 84% of total expenditure in 2019 vs 16% for outside of the region.

The Levelling Up White Paper shows that we are committed to increasing total investment in R&D across the whole of the UK, of which private non-profit R&D is an important element.