Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal principal investigators in receipt of European Research Council funding who are based outside the UK will qualify for the Government's Horizon 2020 underwrite if they move their research base to the UK (a) before or (b) after the date of EU exit.

In the event of a no deal, the Government underwrite will cover the payment of awards to UK beneficiaries for all successful bids to Horizon 2020, including the European Research Council, for the lifetime of projects.

This includes Horizon 2020 grants that have been transferred to the UK before the date of EU exit. We will seek to publish further guidance in due course on how the underwrite will apply to Horizon 2020 grantees based outside of the UK that are planning to move their research base to the UK.