Written question asked by Andrew Snowden (Conservative) on Friday, 10 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 14 July 2026. It was answered by Chris McDonald (Labour) on Monday, 20 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade.

Life Sciences: Small Businesses

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's joint press release entitled UK life sciences attracts £3bn investment, creating jobs and faster patient treatments, published on 9 July 2026, what assessment he has made of the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises to investment secured under the Life Sciences Sector Plan.

Answer: The Department has not done a specific assessment of investment secured from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Life Sciences Sector Plan does however support SMEs through a suite of targeted interventions. The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund remains open and its pipeline includes companies of varying sizes. The Scale-Up Support Service directly supports 10-20 high-potential companies and is open to companies of all sizes. We also offer dedicated export assistance to SMEs. UKRI and NIHR are set to substantially enhance their offerings for BioTech and MedTech SMEs and the British Business Bank continues to invest in life sciences SMEs.

Secondary information