Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether Innovate UK has used its powers to participate in Board meetings of VMIC UK Ltd, including where any sale has been discussed.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government is not selling the VMIC facility. VMIC UK Ltd is a private company and has always been a private company. The decision to sell was made by VMIC UK Ltd’s Board of Directors. UKRI-Innovate UK and the Vaccine Taskforce are communicating with VMIC to help ensure the UK has a strong onshore vaccine ecosystem.
Innovate UK has exercised its right to be an observer on the VMIC Board of Directors since the inception of VMIC. Innovate UK has been a board observer when the sale of the facility has been discussed.
The Vaccine Taskforce is in contact with VMIC UK Ltd’s Board of Directors following their decision to pursue a sale. Decisions regarding how best to pursue the company’s objectives are made by VMIC UK Ltd’s Board of Directors and executive team. The Government will continue to support the UK’s domestic vaccine manufacturing, vaccine innovation and health emergency response capability.
Details on any potential acquirers of VMIC UK Ltd or any potential return to Government are commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether Innovate UK has exercised its right to become a voting member of VMIC UK Ltd.
Answered by George Freeman
Innovate UK is not a voting member of the VMIC UK Ltd Board of Directors. It holds observer status on the Board.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish details of the proposed sale of the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) including (a) which parts of VMIC are up for sale and (b) an estimate of the timeline for a sale to take place.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government is not selling the facility. VMIC Limited is a private company and has always been a private company. Any decisions and information regarding the future of the company and its facilities are the responsibility of the VMIC Board of Directors. The Government supported VMIC as part of our 2017 Life Science Strategy commitment to vaccines innovation, which the pandemic has dramatically accelerated.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2021 to Question 89572 on Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre, what steps his Department is taking as a result of those discussions to ensure the UK’s resilience against future disease pandemics and variants.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccine Taskforce and UK Research and Innovation are engaged with the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), which is a private company, as well as with other companies, to ensure the UK has a strong domestic vaccine manufacturing capability to contribute to the UK’s resilience against COVID-19 and other future health emergencies. Details of the sale process are commercially sensitive.
The Government has invested over £380 million to date in the UK’s onshore vaccine manufacturing capacity and capability. At the recent Autumn Budget, and as part of the ‘living with COVID-19’ plan, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a further £354 million for UK life sciences. This includes funding to strengthen UK vaccine manufacturing resilience for the COVID-19 response, including COVID-19 variants, and potential future health emergencies, among other projects.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with officials in his Department on the sale of the Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccine Taskforce and UK Research and Innovation are working closely with VMIC, which is a private company, to ensure the UK has a strong domestic vaccine manufacturing capability to contribute to the UK’s resilience against COVID-19 and other future health emergencies. At present these discussions are commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2022 to Question 94362, how much has the Government invested in the Vaccine Manufacture and Innovation Centre since its inception (a) directly and (b) through its agencies; and what other forms of control does the Government exercise of that Centre.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) UK is a private company, limited by guarantee, and as such the UK Government does not exercise any ownership rights.
VMIC has been granted £206m of Government funding to date to support the delivery of the facility, including grants since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. Reflecting the public funding VMIC has received, UK Research and Innovation (who have been managing the grant on behalf of the Vaccine Taskforce) will be required to ‘consent’ to any sale of the company or its assets and have confirmed that they will work closely with the Vaccine Taskforce in performing this function.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department held discussions with scientific bodies prior to the decision to sell the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre (VMIC) UK is a private company, limited by guarantee, and as such the UK Government does not exercise any ownership rights.
VMIC has been granted £206m of Government funding to date to support the delivery of the facility, including grants since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. Reflecting the public funding VMIC has received, UK Research and Innovation (who have been managing the grant on behalf of the Vaccine Taskforce) will be required to ‘consent’ to any sale of the company or its assets and have confirmed that they will work closely with the Vaccine Taskforce in performing this function.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been spent to date on the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Harwell as of 4 January 2022, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost of establishing that Centre; and when he expects that Centre to open.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) has been granted £206m of Government funding to date to support the delivery of the facility, including grants since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. As a private company, questions regarding VMIC’s facility opening date should be directed towards VMIC.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to reinvest any investment recouped from the sale of Vaccine Manufacture and Innovation Centre into life sciences.
Answered by George Freeman
Officials are working closely with VMIC and other third parties to ensure that the UK retains a strong domestic vaccine manufacturing capability to contribute to our response to COVID-19 and resilience to other future health emergencies. We believe VMIC will play an important role in the UK’s vaccine ecosystem. At present, these discussions are commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2021 to Question 89571, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of intervening in the sale of VMIC on the grounds of maintaining the UK’s national capability to tackle public health emergencies.
Answered by George Freeman
VMIC is a private company. Mergers and acquisitions of private companies are primarily commercial matters for the parties concerned and the Government does not comment on the details of individual transactions. We remain strongly committed to support UK leadership in vaccines.