Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the White Paper on Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February 2022, what progress her Department has made towards its target of spending at least 55 per cent of its domestic R&D funding outside the greater South East by 2024-25; and what estimate she has made of the proportion of that funding spent outside the greater South East since February 2022 as of 27 March 2023.

The Government is committed to increasing domestic public investment in R&D by at least 40% by 2030, and by at least a third over the spending review period.

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) is committed to increasing R&D investment outside the Greater South East. In line with the commitments in the Science and Technology Framework, DSIT is also working with R&D spending departments across Government to ensure investment decisions support delivery of the mission.

Progress against the mission will be tracked by the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) data on publicly funded R&D by region. DSIT and ONS continue to work with Government departments to collect and publish this data. Data for 2020/1 is scheduled for publication in April 2023. Data for the period February 2022 to March 2023 is not currently available.