Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the (a) proportional and (b) absolute change in expenditure on science outside the Greater South East has been over each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Government Office for Science are working with all government departments to collect and publish sub-national data on their R&D spending. This will allow us to track progress on the R&D Levelling Up mission to increase domestic public investment in R&D outside the Greater South East by at least 40% by 2030, and by at least a third by 2024-5.

The baseline data for 2020-21 was published in April this year, with data for future years made available in due course.