The Government recognises that science and research is vital in driving economic growth. Our ambition is to make the UK the best place in the world to do science and research.

In 2012, Government expenditure on science and research through the Research Councils and the Higher Education funding bodies was £4.9 billion, equal to 0.3% of GDP. In the same year, total public spending on science was 0.6% of GDP. Total UK spending on Research and Development was 1.7% of GDP.

In the recent spending review, Government made a long-term commitment to investment in science and research infrastructure: increasing capital investment in real terms to £1.1 billion in 2015-16 and growing this in line with inflation each year to 2020-21. We also continued to protect the science resource ring fence in cash terms for financial year 2015-16. On the basis of existing commitments, the Government’s investment in science through the Research Councils and Higher Education funding bodies will be £5.9 billion¹ in 2015-16, an increase in cash terms of 20% since 2012.¹ Cash terms including additional spending announced in AS13 and Budget 14.

A number of academic studies find a positive link between research and development (R&D) investment and economic growth. Much of the relevant evidence was set out in a recent report for BIS "Insights from international benchmarking of the UK science and innovation system¹" and the 2014 BIS Innovation Report².

A further recent UK report estimated that public investment in science yields a social rate of return of around 20%, through its impact on private sector productivity³. This means that for every £1 spent by Government on R&D, private sector output rises by 20 pence per year in perpetuity. This effect could be larger where additional public spending on R&D attracts additional private R&D spending. The same report and other studies have shown that there is a "crowding-in" effect of public investment on R&D. The effect is greater in industries that conduct significant R&D or collaborate with universities.¹

Available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/science-and-innovation-system-international-benchmarking²

Available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/innovation-report-2014-innovation-research-and-growth³ Available at:

http://sciencecampaign.org.uk/UKScienceBase.pdf

The Government do not hold the information you have requested. The Home Office has published advisory notes on recording and reporting actual severity. From data collected, the Home Office will provide clarity on the burden of harm and, over time, should give an indication of the effectiveness of refinement methods, particularly for the most severe procedures.

It is important to note that procedures classified as severe represent only a small percentage of the total.

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) was established by the Government in May 2004 to advance and promote the replacement, refinement and reduction of animals used in research and testing (the 3Rs). The NC3Rs primarily receives Government funding through BIS from the science and research ring-fenced budget via the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The projected budget for the NC3Rs is £7.88 million in 2014-15 and £7.84 million in 2015-16.

BBSRC also provides further funding for the 3Rs under its responsive mode schemes, and the MRC and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council support research projects which contribute to the development of new knowledge and new methods that help replace or refine animal use. However, figures on future spend are not available.

For a detailed breakdown of past funding I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), on 11 March 2014, Official Report, column 167W.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supports scientific research via its public bodies. Information on the proportion of research funding they distribute to each of the named areas is not currently held centrally but is being researched. I will place the data in the Libraries of the House as soon as possible.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills supports scientific research via its public bodies. Information on the proportion of research funding they distribute to each of the named areas is not currently held centrally but is being researched. I will place the data in the Libraries of the House as soon as possible.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) allocates £13 million annually to drive public engagement with science and increase scientific literacy. This funds programmes including Sciencewise, which is the UK's national centre for public dialogue on science, National Science and Engineering Week, the British Science Festival and the National Science and Engineering Competition whose finals take place at this week's national Big Bang Fair. Evaluations of these individual programmes are published on relevant organisations' websites.

BIS also funds STEMNET which provides a network of over 27,000 STEM ambassadors, volunteer scientists and engineers who inspire schoolchildren and help bring career opportunities to life. We evaluate all our programmes individually and measure the collective impact of our policies and complementary activity provided by others every three years with the Public Attitudes to Science survey. Previous surveys are available on BIS' website and the 2014 edition will be published and uploaded on 14 March.

I will meet representatives of Jaguar Land Rover tomorrow to discuss their vision for their Gaydon headquarters. As it is international women’s day on 8 March, I will also be discussing the work they do to encourage women and girls to take up science, technology, engineering and maths. The Secretary of State is passionate about getting more women on boards and, importantly, into all sort of industries, so will he join me in celebrating international women’s day and reminding businesses that they need to do their bit to encourage more women into the sciences?

There are no publicly funded bursaries or scholarships available to students based on the subject to be studied. Universities and colleges typically provide such bursaries or scholarships to students using their own resources. The Government does not collect data on the type of bursaries available or the eligibility conditions.

In 2012 the Government introduced the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) to promote access to higher education among disadvantaged students. Only students whose family income is no greater than £25,000 per annum are eligible for an award. However, institutions are able to set their own local criteria to further target awards in a way that best meets the needs of their students. There is no requirement for institutions to target their awards by subject. Data collected by the Higher Education Funding Council for England show that 18 institutions have used subject as an eligibility criteria, although no information is available to show which subjects are involved or the value of those awards.

The Government contributed £50 million to the NSP in 2012/13 and £100 million in 2013/14. On 28 November 2013 we announced that we were reducing Government's planned contribution in 2014/15 from £150 million to £50 million. From 2015/16 the NSP will cease as an undergraduate scheme with £50 million being re-focused to provide support to postgraduate students from less advantaged backgrounds.

Data on academic departments is not available; the closest approximation is the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) defined cost centres which have been structured to broadly align to an institution’s academic departments.

Data provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) showing the number of students enrolled at English HE institutions by institution of study and cost centre for the academic years 2001/02, 2010/11 and 2011/12 has been provided in the tables which will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Information for earlier years is not available on a comparable basis.

Ministers and officials have frequent engagement with the science and research community and with industry on a wide range of topics, and plan to gather input to the Science and Innovation Strategy as part of those discussions and consultations. For example, I have committed to leading a consultation with the science community on making the most of the long-term capital settlement for science and research agreed in last

year's spending review. The results of that consultation will form an important part of the work on the Science and Innovation Strategy.

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.

The Department published allocations for the periods concerned 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 spending review through fiscal events totalling £514 million in 2013-14 and £609 million in 2014-15. This figure includes resource for projects announced at the autumn statement, 5 December 2013, Official Report, columns 1101-1113.

The outturn for each financial year is published in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper and the BIS annual accounts, available on:

www.gov.uk

after the end of each financial year.

The Department published allocations for the periods concerned 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

This gives the total budget for 2014-15 as £4.57 billion.

The Department has also announced additional allocations since the spending review through fiscal events totalling £609 million in 2014-15.

The Government has continued to state its support for science despite the tough financial situation with the science ringfence and the commitment to an increased long term capital budget to 2021.

Current budgets for post 2015 are not yet set. They will be decided in the next Spending Review after the general election.

The Government is keen to increase the number and scale of UK science and research collaborations with our partners in Africa.

In 2012 we expanded the BIS/FCO Science and Innovation Network (SIN) into South Africa and Nigeria with the creation of new officer posts in Abuja, Cape Town and Pretoria. As well as building relationships with the governments and institutions within both countries, we are also looking to the SIN officers to act as entry points for science and innovation collaborations in other parts of sub-Saharan and West Africa.

Further, aided by the new Global Collaborative Space Programme announced in the autumn statement, the UK Space Agency is looking to strengthen partnerships in several African countries including Algeria and Nigeria. Space technology is an important tool in assisting development priorities such as resource usage, communications and education; and UK expertise in these fields is very relevant to Africa's future.

I also visited South Africa in September as part of the UK-South Africa Bilateral Forum. At the forum the South African Science Minister, Derek Hanekom, and I signed an agreement to fund a UK-South Africa scientific seminar scheme to facilitate meetings of early to mid-career scientists from our two countries.

The Department published allocations for the periods concerned 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

These allocations maintain a ring-fence around Science and Research resource budgets for the periods concerned.

The latest figures for gross expenditure on research and development (GERD), published by ONS in March 2013, show that in 2011 research and development accounted for 1.8% of UK GDP.

The Government recognises the significant contribution made by charitable funders of research. The charity support element of quality related research funding, provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), recognises the public benefit arising from research funded by charities, including the medical charities. HEFCE has been asked, as part of the science and research allocation for the spending review period 2011-15, to protect support for institutions leveraging funding from external sources, such as the charitable and business sectors. HEFCE has announced that support for universities undertaking research funded by charities, including the medical charities, will be maintained at £198 million for 2013-14.

The Government fully recognises the importance of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) based industries to the UK economy, and of maintaining a healthy STEM pipeline. This is why we continue to sponsor a range of initiatives which aim to engage young people in STEM at various points in their educational career, including at degree level. Examples of these initiatives include the STEMNET STEM Ambassador Programme, the National Science and Engineering Competition and the Big Bang Fair.

We are also working to increase the number of young people choosing to study these subjects by promoting diversity within STEM. The Government funds the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering to run a programme of work aimed at identifying and removing the barriers to entering STEM through a range of routes, including university.

We are also supporting higher level study of STEM subjects through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Subjects which are identified as Strategically Important or Vulnerable Subjects (SIVS) receive additional financial support from HEFCE to help ensure courses can be continued. A range of STEM subjects are currently classed as SIVS.

In the spending round 2013, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that he would:

maintain resource funding for science in cash terms at £4.6 billion in 2015-16;

increase capital funding in real terms from £0.6 billion in 2012-13 to £1.1 billion in 2015-16;

and set a long-term capital budget for science in the next Parliament growing in line with inflation to 2020-21.

There were substantive discussions on antibiotic resistance at the G8 Science Ministers meeting. After reviewing the evidence on the increase in antibiotic resistance we concluded that antimicrobial resistance is a serious global problem affecting humans, animals and the environment that has to be addressed by a wide ranging programme of work. Governments and the scientific community have an important role to play, at both a national and international level, in improving practice in all sectors and stimulating research. The main areas for action are set out in the ministerial statement at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g8-science-ministers-statement