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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the absence of an announcement on government-funded research and development allocations for 2021-22 on universities and other research institutions planning their spending for that financial year; and whether he plans on making that announcement before the beginning of the 2021-22 financial year.

Research and development (R&D) are central to igniting the UK’s economic recovery, creating new jobs, boosting productivity, and improving people’s quality of life. New technologies will bring more productive, higher paid jobs to the whole economy.

We are increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22. This investment will put research and development at the heart of economic and social recovery from the impacts of COVID-19, enabling us to build back better for a greener, healthier and more resilient UK.

We are working closely with all our delivery partners to understand the impact of the settlement on universities and other research institutions. We are also engaging with our partners to develop the 2021/22 allocations and help them plan implementation.

We aim to update our partners on 2021/22 funding as soon as possible.