Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide open access to the results of plant and seed research.

Government-funded plant and seed research is predominantly commissioned by the Research Councils and Defra. Such research is undertaken by a number of organisations, each of which have different routes for publication.

Since 2005, Research Councils UK have had open access policies that support and provide guidance about publishing on open platforms. This guidance can be found on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) website. Independent advice commissioned by the Government has reinforced this guidance. Most recently, a report entitled “Open Access to Research- 2018; Independent Advice” was published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in February 2019.

In line with Government policy on transparency, Defra is committed to publishing the reports generated by its research programmes. Final reports from Defra-funded research are quality assured and published on the “Defra Science Search” website.