Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 132389 on Innovation and Research, for what reason UK Research and Innovation does not hold information on UK’s scientific strengths and geographical areas.

As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out in Making Government Deliver for the British People on 7 February, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will focus on optimising public R&D investment to support areas of relative UK strength. The research project I described in the answer I gave to Question 132389 will support this work. I also refer the Hon. Member to UKRI’s five-year strategy (https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-strategy-2022-to-2027/) and publications on the regional distribution of funding (https://www.ukri.org/what-we-offer/what-we-have-funded/geographical-distribution-of-funding/).