8
Accepted
Require UKRI to balance long-term and short-term research and innovation funding needs.
Recommendation
UKRI must also balance meeting the UK’s longer and shorter-term research and innovation needs when deciding where to allocate funding. It faces an inherent tension in allocating funding with government priorities in mind, while not stifling the innovation needed for future R&D.11 Professor Boyle felt that UKRI also has role in providing infrastructure that can be used by multiple research institutions. For example, UKRI could help universities by investing in supercomputing facilities that they could all use.12 Similarly, Professor Grant told us that UKRI had a bigger role than many people realise in skills and development training.13
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation, stating UKRI will pivot programs towards industrial strategy priorities, including a £500 million R&D Missions Accelerator Programme, and DSIT will publish new strategic objectives for UKRI by Autumn 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 1.2 Research and innovation are central to delivering each of the government’s five missions. In June 2025, the Spending Review and the Industrial Strategy provided clear direction to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) around its role in enabling the government’s Plan for Change. UKRI will increase the support it provides to the growth-driving sectors outlined in the Industrial Strategy and pivot its programmes and budgets towards research and innovation priorities set out in the Sector Plans. 1.3 As part of this, the £500 million R&D Missions Accelerator Programme, delivered by UKRI, will target research and innovation towards addressing priority problems facing the government’s five missions, bringing together partnerships between research and industry. The programme seeks to leverage a further £1.5 billion of private investment and generate innovation solutions that can be pulled through to adoption in the public and private sectors. 1.4 The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will shortly publish new strategic objectives for UKRI, which set out the organisation’s role delivering government priorities. This is discussed further at recommendation 2. These new objectives will be aligned with the government’s three priorities for investment in R&D: protecting and growing curiosity driven research; addressing government priorities and tackling societal challenges; and supporting R&D intensive companies to start-up, scale up, and stay in the UK. This approach is intended to increase strategic clarity and transparency around investment and its expected outcomes, as part of the government’s plans to reform the R&D system over the longer term around a limited set of priorities.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Inquiry
UK Research and Innovation
Report
41st Report - UK Research and Innovation
23 Jul 2025
HC 826
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
1.0 yr
Report published
23 Jul 2025