Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the ONS dataset on Business enterprise research and development UK: 2021, published on 22 November 2022, what assessment she has made of the reasons for trends in R&D expenditure on (a) agriculture, hunting and forestry and (b) fishing between 2018 to 2021.

Defra has not conducted specific analysis on the latest R&D statistics from the ONS, which include updated figures for business, higher education sector, and economy-wide R&D investment. These are the result of ongoing efforts to improve data accuracy and ensure decisions are based on robust and reliable information. Defra’s own investment in R&D is increasing over the spending review period and includes programmes like the Farming Innovation Programme which began in 2021 and is designed to encourage innovation in the sector.