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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the granting of UK Research and Innovation money to an academic at the University of Birmingham researching the impact of UK parliamentarians' remarks on international relations with China.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds research across a range of social disciplines including the economic, political and social sciences.

The Government is bound by the Haldane principle in the 2017 Higher Education and Research Act which says that: “decisions on individual research proposals are best taken following an evaluation of the quality and likely impact of the proposals (such as a peer review process).” The Government stands by the Haldane Principle and recognises that decisions about individual projects are best left to experts in the field. As such, Government does not have a role in deciding the awarding of grants to specific research activities.