Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the regional distribution of research and development funding.

DSIT's R&D budget is rising to £13.9bn for the 2025/26 financial year, a real terms increase of 8.5% compared to 2024/25. This will include investments in our R&D system in every region of the UK.

There will be a lag in the data showing the exact regional distribution but the latest figures from UKRI show that all regions and nations received an increase in UKRI investment between the financial years 21/22 and 23/24. In 23/24 the greatest absolute increases in investment were seen in the North West, West Midlands and East Midlands.