Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much and what proportion of the £354m funding allocated to life sciences manufacturing has been allocated to life sciences manufacturing projects; and which projects have received this funding.

This Government recognises the valuable role that life sciences manufacturing plays in the UK economy, as outlined in the Life Sciences Vision published in 2021. Last March, we launched the £60 million Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund to encourage manufacturing investment in the UK. The fund has received a large number of high-quality applications and we expect to announce the grant recipients shortly. In addition, the UK has supported several other life sciences manufacturing investments including through a grant of up to £15.9m to chemical producer Croda to increase the UK’s capacity to manufacture lipid nanoparticles for mRNA vaccines at their site in Leek, and up to £12.3m to support Smith&Nephew’s new Advanced Wound Management manufacturing and R&D site near Hull. The Government continues to work with the life sciences industry to support manufacturing investments in the UK.