Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State on BGI Group in the debate on Genomics and National Security on 8 March 2023, Official Report, column 120WH, whether he plans to provide guidance to (a) business and (b) universities that have formed research partnerships with BGI Group on the potential risks of working with that company.

The Government is committed to supporting UK businesses and academia to engage with any and all international collaborations that includes BGI in a way that reflects the UK’s values and takes account of national security concerns. We proactively engage with business and academia to make them aware of national security risks, including through the RCAT programme which supports universities with risk assessment.

The Government supports the academic sector to make informed decisions on international research collaboration through the Trusted Research campaign and supported Universities UK to develop guidelines, published in October 2020, to help universities tackle security risks related to international collaboration.

As part of the new UK Biological Security Strategy, which is due for publication in the coming months, the government is currently undertaking a full programme of work to assess how we can minimise the risks from biological data to protect our burgeoning bioeconomy, shape global norms and standards, without stifling innovation, and build confidence in sharing personal data to improve health outcomes in the UK and across the world.