Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the government is taking to attach conditions to public research and development funding to ensure (a) equitable and (b) affordable access to the end products.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
NIHR research contracts require recipients of NIHR funding to promote the dissemination of the intellectual property arising from NIHR research to maximise patient and public benefit. Any commercialisation of NIHR research must take due consideration of my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s position regarding access to essential health related technologies, including medicines, in the developing world.
In addition, the NIHR has made research inclusion a condition of its funding. Applicants to domestic research programmes are required to demonstrate how inclusion is being built into all stages of the research lifecycle. Applicants are also required to provide details of how their research contributes towards the NIHR’s mission to reduce health and care inequalities.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help protect intellectual property rights in the training of AI models.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government recently consulted on the use of copyright material in AI model development.
The Government is currently analysing responses to that consultation, to help inform policy development. The Government will continue to engage extensively on this issue and proposals will be set out in due course.
We have committed to report on progress to Parliament by December.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the financial support available for sole traders applying for a patent.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government provides a range of support to inventors, including sole traders, so they may identify, protect and commercialise their intellectual property through tools found on GOV.UK.
The Government considers the fees charged by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to apply for patents to be accessible and comparatively low compared to other jurisdictions.
The IPO works in partnership with a range of organisations that can help inventors bring ideas to market. In addition, the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, provides a range of support services to help innovators.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences the Crown Commercial Service holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Crown Commercial Service holds no intellectual property licences under the specified categories.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences the Ministry of Justice holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences His Majesty's Revenue and Customs holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does hold the information in the form requested, though could only be provided at disproportionate cost as HMRC has 566 contracts in 2024-25, and each contract has different IP licensee conditions.
After further analysis, HMRC has not identified any patents that it holds that generate income for His Majesty’s Government. Any patents or licenses held, that were created by HMRC contracting for services to support the efficient collection of taxes and discharge its customs duties, are used solely for these purposes.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
DSIT Commercial do not hold this information but all contracts awarded by DSIT are published on contracts finder and can be accessed at GOV.UK and find a tender service.
DSIT Grants are mostly awarded the standard grant funding agreement recommended by Cabinet Office.
To provide the detail requested would incur disproportionate costs to the department.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences the Department for Business and Trade holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
The requested information is not readily available in respect of grants, pre-procurement proofs of concept or contracts. Investigation work in order to collect relevant information would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences the Home Office holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Obtaining the specific information requested would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by multiple teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be provided for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many intellectual property licences the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs holds under contracts or terms of reference for (1) grants, (2) pre-procurement or proof of concept work, and (3) procurement; how many of those have sub-licensing rights; how many of those have resulted in sub-licensing; and how many of those sub-licences are for patents, and for which countries.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Our standard terms and conditions have clauses setting out ownership, rights and permitted use of intellectual property (IP) assets created in the course of suppliers’ work for DEFRA. We do not keep a central register of IP assets and rights; these are the responsibility of contract owners and contract managers across DEFRA group.
To answer the noble Lady's question, we would have to access all individual contracts to ascertain what IP licensing terms have been put in place. This would mean that this request is manifestly unreasonable on the grounds of cost and time.