Seventy-Ninth Report - Support for innovation to deliver net zero

Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee HC 1331 15 November 2023
Report Status Response document linked Recorded deadline: 15 Jan 2024

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Conclusions & Recommendations 21 items (12 recs)
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Government response
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Seventy-ninth report from Session 2022-23 · published 14 Feb 2024
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Recommendations & Conclusions

21 results
2 Conclusion
Review complex net zero innovation funding arrangements for suitability ahead of the next Spending Review.
Conclusion
The Government is dependent on businesses delivering successful innovation to reach net zero, but too often it is difficult for businesses to know what support is available and how to access it. The Government is providing £4.2 billion of support … Read more
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3 Conclusion
Commit to assessing consumer challenges in adopting new technologies during innovation priority reviews.
Conclusion
We are not convinced that the Government is paying sufficient attention to the practical challenges consumers can face in adopting low carbon technologies and how to overcome them. The Government selected the technology areas included in the Innovation Framework based … Read more
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4 Conclusion
Identify clear cross-government responsibilities for overseeing progress on each net zero technology area.
Conclusion
Despite the Government’s ambition to have an effective end-to-end innovation system, responsibility for overseeing progress is siloed, making it difficult to assess progress across each of the priority technology areas. No single person or organisation has responsibility for overseeing the … Read more
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5 Conclusion
Define short, medium, and long-term outcomes for each net zero technology to benchmark progress.
Conclusion
The Government has not yet defined what success will look like for the main net zero technology challenge areas and therefore lacks benchmarks with which to judge whether progress remains on track. It is vital that desired outcomes are clearly … Read more
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6 Conclusion
Include assessment of technology delivery timescales and risks in priority progress reports.
Conclusion
A well-run innovation programme always carries with it the risk of failure, but government has yet to define what failure is tolerable overall before its net zero objectives are jeopardised. We recognise that innovation involves a degree of risk and … Read more
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7 Recommendation
Report publicly on progress against defined measures of success for each technology area.
Recommendation
There is no clear mechanism for reporting publicly progress in each of the priority technology areas. Government uses its overall Net Zero Strategy to report on the overall approach and progress to net zero but acknowledges this will not give … Read more
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1 Conclusion
Committee took evidence from departments regarding net zero innovation and related funding.
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) about net zero innovation. We also … Read more
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8 Recommendation
Effectiveness of new tools to access net zero innovation funding remains unproven.
Recommendation
While DSIT said it did not regret the fact that there is a large number of programmes, it recognised that it is important to make the sources of funding “accessible” and “understandable”. It explained that UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), … Read more
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9 Recommendation
Consumer buy-in for net zero technologies remains unassessed despite practical challenges.
Recommendation
The rapid deployment of net zero technologies will depend crucially on whether consumers want to buy them. However, consumers can face significant practical challenges in incorporating new technologies into their everyday lives, as we see with building an adequate charging … Read more
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10 Conclusion
Net zero technology selection prioritises carbon impact over consumer needs and behaviour.
Conclusion
The Government, however, selected the 31 net zero technology areas in the Framework based on their potential carbon impact, the number of options to reach net zero and the potential for business opportunities in the UK.28 There is a risk … Read more
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11 Recommendation
Effective collaboration among many organisations is crucial for successful net zero innovation.
Recommendation
DESNZ has responsibility for net zero policy, while DSIT has responsibility for supporting research and innovation and creating the underlying conditions to support success.31 Many different organisations are involved in supporting innovation, both public and private, ranging from the research … Read more
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12 Recommendation
Unclear who holds responsibility for overseeing the entire net zero innovation framework.
Recommendation
DESNZ told us that it had overall responsibility for delivering carbon budgets and oversight of a “whole government effort” to reach net zero.33 The Net Zero Innovation Board (the Board), chaired by the Government Chief Scientific Advisor provides advice to … Read more
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13 Recommendation
Net Zero Innovation Board lacks decision-making authority over individual funds and policies.
Recommendation
The Net Zero Innovation Board, established in 2020, had responsibility for overseeing the development of the Framework. It now has several ongoing functions including providing strategic direction and seeking to influence spending decisions. The Board does not, however, have authority … Read more
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14 Recommendation
Acknowledged need for clearer oversight and bridging research to commercialisation gap.
Recommendation
Both DSIT and DESNZ recognised however that there is more to do to oversee performance across the portfolio of activities. DESNZ acknowledged that “we are not at the finished article yet”.39 DSIT and HM Treasury told us that oversight of … Read more
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15 Recommendation
Monitoring of net zero innovation still lacks defined outcomes and clear success measures.
Recommendation
DESNZ, with other departments, has started to establish a process for monitoring progress systematically across the Framework but it is still to define what outcomes it is seeking to deliver. We were told that the Net Zero Innovation Board is … Read more
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16 Recommendation
Challenges measuring carbon reduction and economic growth outcomes in early net zero projects.
Recommendation
We challenged DESNZ on how it was going to measure progress in terms of the potential to achieve carbon reductions and economic growth.44 It told us that individual programmes have set outputs and ‘near-term’ outcomes for what interim measures of … Read more
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17 Recommendation
Tolerable failure level for net zero innovation Framework remains undefined by DESNZ.
Recommendation
The uncertain and longer-term nature of innovation makes some level of failure inevitable.48 DESNZ, however, has yet to define what level of failure it could tolerate across the Framework, instead placing reliance on risk management by departments at programme and … Read more
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18 Conclusion
DESNZ views "pulling the plug" on underperforming net zero projects as low probability.
Conclusion
We asked at what point DESNZ would pull the plug for a project that might not succeed. It explained that it carries out a review process across its portfolio using evidence and modelling to understand the impact of a low-carbon … Read more
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19 Conclusion
Identifying early failure in net zero innovation projects is considered a successful outcome.
Conclusion
We were told that the Innovation Delivery Board is starting to collate risk assessments for individual net zero innovation projects.53 DESNZ told us that there is an “honesty” about when an innovation project does not work compared with other government … Read more
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20 Recommendation
Complex public funding hinders DESNZ's ability to track net zero innovation spending.
Recommendation
The complexity of public sector funding will make it hard for DESNZ and the Innovation Delivery Board to track spending.55 We challenged witnesses on how the Government will report to the public on progress against plans for delivering net zero … Read more
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21 Recommendation
Government's net zero innovation plans lack clear articulation and comprehensive public reporting.
Recommendation
DESNZ suggested that while it is a complex picture and the delivery plan was a first attempt at publishing details on net zero innovation, it accepted that government could be better at articulating its plans towards net zero.57 DESNZ said … Read more
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