PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Science: South West (21 April 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the science and technology sectors in the South West.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

In the Autumn Statement 2016 the Government announced that we will make Britain the global go-to nation for scientists, innovators and tech investors, by investing an extra £2 billion a year in R&D by 2020/21. This funding is in addition to the protection of the science resource budget in real terms from its 2015/16 level of £4.7 billion that was announced at the Spending Review in Autumn 2015, where the government also committed to invest in new scientific infrastructure on a record scale – £6.9 billion over the period 2015-2021.

The South West has received €300 million of Horizon 2020 funding to date. The government has committed to underwrite all Horizon 2020 awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. The decision to underwrite the grants of competitively bid for EU research funding will give British participants and their EU partners the assurance and certainty needed to plan ahead for projects that can run over many years.

This Government intends to secure the best possible outcome for the UK research base as we exit the European Union. We would welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives. However, whatever happens in the future, the Government is committed to ensuring the UK, including the South West, remains world leading in international research and innovation.

Answered by:
Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative)
26 April 2017