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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to protect the long-term ability of university chemistry departments to develop the chemistry talent pipeline.

The Government is committed to cementing the UK’s status as a global science superpower, and recognises that great people are at the heart of great research and development (R&D).

In July, we published the R&D People and Culture Strategy which sets a long-term course for research talent development and underlines our goal to ensure the UK is the most exciting place in the world for top research and innovation talent.

The Strategy sets out the actions that government and the sector, including universities, will take to ensure the UK R&D workforce has the capability and capacity it needs both now and in the future - across all disciplines.