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 potential merits of improving collaboration between Government, universities and the private sector on science and technology in the context of the experience of developing new covid-19 vaccines.

The Vaccines Taskforce has coordinated the collective efforts of government, academia, industry and healthcare to find successful and effective vaccines. The Government has secured early access to 457 million vaccines doses through agreements with eight separate vaccine developers.

As a result, the UK was the first country in the world to procure, authorise and start a vaccination programme using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and shortly followed with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Due to our swift and decisive action, as of 18 March over 26.2 million individuals have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In addition to this, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) works in close collaboration with others to build a thriving, inclusive research and innovation system that connects discovery to prosperity and public good. UKRI bring together nine organisations with great depth and breadth of expertise, allowing government to connect research communities, institutions, businesses and wider society, in the UK and around the world. This combination enables government to work across the whole research and innovation system, informed by our networks and expertise.