Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether Research England has assessed the effect on quality-related research funding of any retraction of, or misconduct finding in respect of, outputs submitted to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework by any provider; and what assessment they have made of any such cases.

Research England (RE) has not undertaken a specific assessment of the effect on quality-related (QR) research funding of any subsequent retraction of, or finding of research misconduct relating to, outputs submitted to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021).

QR allocations from 2022-23 onwards are based on the outcomes of REF2021, which assessed the quality of the research carried out in UK universities.

Responsibility for investigating research misconduct rests primarily with the research organisations concerned, which are expected to maintain appropriate arrangements for ensuring research integrity.