Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the dataset entitled Gross domestic expenditure on research and development, by region, UK, published on 4 August 2021, what recent discussions her Department has had with the ONS on (a) the planned timescale for publication of the next release of that dataset and (b) the potential contribution of up-to-date data to help meet the 40 per cent minimum target for domestic public investment in research and development outside the Greater South East.

In order to enable measurement of the mission, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology contributes to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) work with Government departments to collect and publish data on publicly funded research and development (R&D) by region. Data for 2020/1 is scheduled for publication in April 2023.

The release of the data on publicly funded R&D expenditure by region for 2020/21 this April will build the evidence base for the Government’s Levelling Up mission to increase domestic public R&D investment outside the Greater South-East by at least 40% by 2030.