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Written question asked by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Tuesday, 28 January 2014, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 3 February 2014 (named day). It was answered by Lord Willetts (Conservative) on Monday, 3 February 2014 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Science: Finance

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the adequacy of his Department's spending on science.

Answer

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills reassesses Government expenditure on science and research during each spending review. The most recent published allocations can be found in the booklet ‘The Allocation of Science and Research Funding 2011-12 to 2014-15’ (20 December 2010):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/allocation-of-science-and-research-funding-2011-12-to-2014-15

The Department has also announced additional allocations since the 2010 spending review through fiscal events of over £1.5 billion, and has in the 2013 spending review also announced a long-term commitment to provide £1.1 billion of science capital funding, rising with inflation, to 2021.

Every two years, BIS commissions a report on the ‘International Comparative Performance of the UK Research Base’, which benchmarks UK performance against key competitor countries on inputs- and outputs-related metrics. The last report, published in December, found that while the UK as a whole spent less on R&D as share of GDP than most comparator countries, it produced the highest quality research. Notably, it pointed out that with 0.9% of the world population, 3.2% of R&D expenditure and 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounted for 6.4% of publications, 11.6% of citations and 15.9% of highly-cited publications.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
185416; 575 c19W
Session
2013-14
Subjects
Finance Science
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk