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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Government's policy is on increasing its investment in research and development as a proportion of GDP above the OECD average by 2020-21.

Research and development is a key driver of economic growth and is a vital part of the government's Industrial Strategy. The government clearly demonstrated its commitment to science and research in the 2016 Autumn Statement, committing an additional £4.7 billion to R&D funding covering both science and innovation over the period 2017/18 to 20/21. This equates to an extra £2 billion a year by 2020/21, the biggest increase in any parliament since 1979.

Total R&D expenditure in the UK in 2015 represented 1.68% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The rate in future years will depend on both public sector and private sector investment in R&D as well as on the level of GDP.