PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
European Research Infrastructure Consortia (8 January 2019)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect on UK (a) participation in and (b) hosting of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium of the UK leaving the EU without a deal in March 2019.

Asked by:
Dame Angela Eagle (Labour)

As stated in the ‘Framework for the UK-EU partnership in Science, Research and Innovation’ and ‘The Future Relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union’, the UK has outlined its ambition to continue to host and support European Research Infrastructures. Furthermore, there is a shared commitment between the UK and the EU to explore UK participation in European Research Infrastructure Consortia (ERICs) as stated in the Political Declaration on our future relationship.

Any country in the world can be a member of an ERIC. However, to be a member, the UK would have to comply with certain membership requirements laid out in EU Council Regulation (EC) No 723/2009 (amended by Council Regulation EU No 1261/2013) – hereinafter referred to as the ‘ERIC Regulation’ - the framework under which these separate legal bodies are formed. As such, details of our continued participation are subject to negotiations with the European Commission.

Should membership not be possible, BEIS and delegated responsible authorities, are working with each individual ERIC to explore the potential alternatives for continued UK participation.

In order to host the statutory seat of an ERIC, a country must either be an EU Member State, or an associated country under the ERIC Regulation. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal in March 2019, we will no longer be able to host the statutory seat of the European Social Survey ERIC or the Integrated Structural Biology ERIC without further agreement of the European Commission. However, we are seeking to retain participation in each ERIC through alternative agreements which could include retention of some headquarter functions in the UK.

Answered by:
Chris Skidmore (Conservative)
14 January 2019