Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support SMEs in the (a) technology and (b) research and development sectors, in the context of the Autumn Budget 2024.

At Budget, Government protected record levels of investment with £20.4bn for R&D in 2025/26, on top of support provided through the tax system. The government is supporting commercialisation of our world-class university research by providing at least £40 million over 5 years for proof-of-concept funding and improvements to support for researchers spinning out the UK’s cutting-edge research into firms of the future.

We also announced that we are extending Made Smarter Innovation with up to £37m funding, and funding for the Made Smarter Adoption programme will double to £16 million in 2025-26, supporting more small manufacturing businesses to adopt advanced digital technologies and enabling the programme to be expanded to all nine English regions.

Furthermore, the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce will be extended and will produce an interim report early in 2025 with practical steps and recommendations to enhance SME adoption of digital technology using insights from local and international experiences. To further support small businesses, DBT will shortly be announcing details on a £4m pilots package to encourage tech adoption for SMEs.