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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an estimate of the impact of increasing energy prices on (a) private and (b) public research and development spending.

The Department recognises that increasing energy prices have the potential to impact public and private research and development (R&D) spending, both directly and indirectly.

The Department is examining these issues, including working with our Partner Organisations and key R&D-intensive sectors to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect them.

The Government has raised public R&D spending to its highest ever level, reflecting that innovation is vital to future economic growth and has announced a plan to deal with the increase in energy costs for charities, businesses and public sector organisations.