Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to maximise the benefits of rejoining the (a) Horizon and (b) Copernicus programmes.

It is our priority to make Horizon association a success. Government have launched a series of initiatives have been launched to help UK organisations engage with the programme. These include a marketing campaign and large-scale events around the country to promote Horizon Europe, and pump priming support to help increase application numbers, delivered by the British Academy and Innovate UK. On Copernicus, DSIT has been working closely with the UK Earth observation sector to promote the opportunities from renewed participation in the EU Copernicus programme. This includes hosting two Copernicus industry days, investing £250m to support industry and academics to stay at the forefront of Earth observation and through the UK Space Agency. For both programmes, the Department is actively working with European partners to promote UK expertise and capabilities and encouraging collaboration opportunities.