Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the cost to the public purse was of Government investment into kidney disease research in 2022-23; and which public bodies provided that investment.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds research into the detection, prevention, treatment and underpinning biology of kidney disease, allocated primarily through the Medical Research Council (MRC). Over the period of 2019/20 to 2022/23, MRC has invested nearly £30 million in funding and support for kidney disease research with £6.9 million in 2022/23.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) also provides funding for kidney disease research. I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided by my Rt. Hon. Friend the member for Pendle on 15 April 2024 (UIN 20328).
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-03-25/20328
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) universities on the future of Confucius Institutes.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government takes seriously any concerns about overseas interference in the UK’s higher education (HE) sector, including through Confucius Institutes, and regularly assesses the risks facing academia. The department has taken action to remove any direct or indirect government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK, but currently judge that it would be disproportionate to ban them.
The department works closely with Cabinet colleagues and other government departments to support the HE sector. Most recently, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education met a group of Vice Chancellors on 25 April to discuss research security in universities.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the press notice entitled PM announces turning point in European security as UK set to increase defence spending to 2.5% by 2030, published on 23 April 2024, whether the 5% of the defence budget to be committed to research and development will be counted as science spend; and which Department will be responsible for that expenditure.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is delivering a record £20 billion public investment in R&D this year, which will increase to £22 billion by the end of the next Parliament. £1.6 billion of this £2 billion increase will be allocated to higher defence R&D by 2028-29. The Ministry of Defence will be responsible for this expenditure and further details will be confirmed at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure home grown crops are resilient to climate change, in the context of increased (a) rainfall and (b) warmer weathers.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our fantastic British farmers are world leaders and carefully plan their planting to suit the weather, their soil type and their long-term agronomic strategy. I understand the increasing importance of farmers having access to crop varieties that are resistant to climate change and variable weather conditions, to maintain crop quality and yields.
The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses the 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third Climate Change Risk Assessment. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety and quality from climate change overseas.
One of these responses, the recent Precision Breeding Act, is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in technologies like gene editing and supports Defra’s efforts to reinforce food security in the face of climate change. Through the Act we want to encourage researchers and commercial breeders to be at the forefront of capturing the potential benefits of precision breeding for British farmers and consumers. For instance, research into wheat that is resilient to climate change is currently underway at the John Innes Centre. Gene editing techniques have been used to identify a key gene in wheat that can be used to introduce traits such as heat resilience whilst maintaining high yield. This could help to increase food production from a crop that 2.5 billion people are dependent on globally.
Also included in the NAP3, Defra’s flagship breeding research programme, the Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) on Wheat, Oil Seed Rape, Pulses and Vegetable crops identify genetic traits to improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and nutritional quality of our crops. The GINs also provide a platform for knowledge exchange for breeders, producers, end users and the research base, and a means for the delivery of scientific knowledge, resources and results to add value to wheat crops.
The £270 million Farming Innovation Programme also supports industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture. All projects support productivity and environmental outcomes that will benefit farmers and growers in England. In our latest ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition, we awarded over £11 million to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops. Previous competitions have also supported crop-related research.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales on steps to improve crop resilience.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our fantastic British farmers are world leaders and carefully plan their planting to suit the weather, their soil type and their long-term agronomic strategy. I understand the increasing importance of farmers having access to crop varieties that are resistant to climate change and variable weather conditions, to maintain crop quality and yields.
The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses the 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third Climate Change Risk Assessment. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety and quality from climate change overseas.
One of these responses, the recent Precision Breeding Act, is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in technologies like gene editing and supports Defra’s efforts to reinforce food security in the face of climate change. Through the Act we want to encourage researchers and commercial breeders to be at the forefront of capturing the potential benefits of precision breeding for British farmers and consumers. For instance, research into wheat that is resilient to climate change is currently underway at the John Innes Centre. Gene editing techniques have been used to identify a key gene in wheat that can be used to introduce traits such as heat resilience whilst maintaining high yield. This could help to increase food production from a crop that 2.5 billion people are dependent on globally.
Also included in the NAP3, Defra’s flagship breeding research programme, the Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) on Wheat, Oil Seed Rape, Pulses and Vegetable crops identify genetic traits to improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and nutritional quality of our crops. The GINs also provide a platform for knowledge exchange for breeders, producers, end users and the research base, and a means for the delivery of scientific knowledge, resources and results to add value to wheat crops.
The £270 million Farming Innovation Programme also supports industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture. All projects support productivity and environmental outcomes that will benefit farmers and growers in England. In our latest ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition, we awarded over £11 million to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops. Previous competitions have also supported crop-related research.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent steps her Department has taken to support (a) companies and (b) individuals in the development of fusion technology.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has announced its plan to launch the Spherical Tokomak for Energy Production (STEP) procurement process on 22nd May. This multi-stage competition, which offers the chance to bid for up to hundreds of millions of pounds in the initial contract period until 2029, will seek to find industry partners in engineering and construction, to form a world-leading public-private alliance led by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd (UKIFS). Meanwhile, UK Research and Innovation invest in research grants for fusion, doctoral training and support fusion companies through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's prosperity partnership.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding UK Research and Innovation provides to support research and innovation related to pandemic preparedness.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As the Member should know, DHSC are the lead department for pandemic preparedness, a core element of the UK Biological Security Strategy.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to end the use of LD50 testing on animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK supports work to develop New Approach Methodologies which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment without the use of animals.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicines. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available. The VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes. This commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.
For veterinary medicines significant progress in non-animal testing has been made in recent years, including the possibility of replacing animals by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines. Many Marketing Authorisation Holders for these specific medicines have already, and more recently, introduced these changes to their authorised medicines, which will reduce the number of animals used. Implementation of new tests for existing products can be a complicated process, requiring extensive validation and it is not always possible to replace all of the existing animal tests with in vitro non-animal replacements for each existing authorised product. The relevant UK Competent Authority for regulation of these medicines will continue to monitor the use of animals in these tests and to recommend use of non-animal tests where possible.
The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.
LD50 testing is not required for preclinical development of novel medicines. Quality control testing of some authorised medicines relies on LD50 testing to ensure each batch meets expected quality standards. UK regulators follow the principles of the 3Rs. Significant progress has been made on validating alternative methods which do not use animals, including the possibility of replacing mice by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reforming university funding models to reduce dependence on the income of international students.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
It is important that there is a sustainable system to support students and support higher education (HE) that is responsive to the needs of the labour market and the wider economy, and that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. The government keeps the higher education (HE) funding system under continuous review to ensure that it remains sustainable and provides many different opportunities for learners to acquire vital skills. Longer-term funding plans for the HE sector will be set out at the next multi-year Spending Review, in line with the approach to long-term public spending commitments across government.
In 2021/22, the total income of the HE sector in England was £40.8 billion, up from £28 billion in 2014/15, including £8.8 billion income from international student fees. Of the £40.8 billion, approximately £16 billion was provided by the government. Over the current spending review period, both the Department for Education and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are investing £1.3 billion in capital funding to support teaching and research.
The department is proud that the UK is home to some of the world’s top universities who benefit from strong international ties, so much so that the UK HE system has educated 58 of current and recent world leaders and has 4 out of the top 10 globally ranked universities. Attracting the brightest students internationally is good for the UK’s universities and delivers growth at home.
Education policy is a devolved matter, and different HE funding arrangements apply in the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an estimate of the percentage of the UK's total energy requirement that will be delivered through the Advanced Nuclear Fund in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Advanced Nuclear Fund (ANF) is a £385m fund that supports innovation in nuclear energy. It was announced in 2020 and is due to conclude in March 2025. It includes a grant of up to £210m to Rolls Royce SMR Ltd to develop their Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design, as well as other funding for Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) research and development.
The Government has set out a commitment for SMRs to be operational in the UK by the mid-2030s, and to build an AMR demonstrator by the early 2030s, as part of the wider ambition for nuclear power to provide up to 25% of the UK’s electricity by 2050. The ANF promotes innovations that will help to meet these goals, and therefore its contribution to the UK’s total energy requirement will be from the mid-2030s.