Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help increase levels of innovation in Gloucester.

UK Research and Innovation invested £260 million in the Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area in 2021-22.

There are two active projects based in Gloucester, with a combined value of £218,000. This includes a £122,000 Horizon Europe Guarantee award, delivered by UKRI, to the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council, supporting research to enable rural communities’ actors and policy makers to design better strategies, initiatives and policies fostering sustainability transitions of rural areas. Also, £96,000 awarded to Hill Court Farm Research to provide farmers with a framework for improving nitrogen efficiency.