Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is his policy to use energy policy to increase R&D investment in Scotland.

The Government is committed to investing in science, research and innovation across the UK and across the energy sector. The Government is committed to increasing support for R&D as a key pillar of our Industrial Strategy and have committed to raise total R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

The Department is investing £505m under our Energy Innovation Programme between 2015/16-2020/21, as part of the Government’s wider £2.5bn clean growth innovation activities that will support projects across the UK. Scottish innovators are eligible to bid into competitions under this programme, alongside all constituent parts of the UK.