Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of prioritising frontier life sciences industries in pharmaceuticals on (a) developing non-animal methods of testing and (b) phasing out animal testing.

The Government is committed to supporting non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption.Frontier life science companies are pioneering innovative drug development, including via human-specific targets that require human-based models in their discovery and testing, and alternative technologies that can be used to support this, such as AI and machine learning. Supporting these industries will help advance alternative methods and contribute to the reduction of animal testing, in alignment with the forthcoming government strategy on alternatives.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the commitment to unleash the economic potential of the life sciences cluster in Cambridge on Huntingdonshire.

The Government is committed to working with local partners to unleash the economic potential of Cambridgeshire, helping to drive jobs and growth across the region, including Huntingdonshire. We have not specifically assessed the impact on Huntingdonshire, but through the Life Sciences Sector Plan and broader Industrial Strategy, we will continue to deliver for the region. This includes through investing in flagship infrastructure such as East West Rail, planning reform, and securing partnerships – such as the recent landmark BioNTech announcement, which will see a new R&D hub established in Cambridge as part of a £1 billion, 10-year UK investment programme, creating hundreds of highly skilled jobs in the region.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of engineering biology as a domain of strategic competition on the economy.

The Modern Industrial Strategy is founded on supporting high-growth sectors across the UK’s strengths. As part of developing the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan Government assessed a range of technologies to assess those of highest growth to be included as frontier technologies. Engineering biology was selected as a frontier technology as part of this assessment process, backed by £380 million of investment in the Sector Plan.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of quantum computing as a domain of strategic competition on the economy.

Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionise our economy, transforming our ability to drive growth and productivity in key industrial sectors, such as through the acceleration of drug discovery, or optimisation of global supply chains.Oxford Economics estimate that, by 2045, quantum computing could support up to £11bn in UK GDP as well as up to 126,000 jobs across the economy.The Government is investing £670m to drive development and adoption of quantum computers in the UK, including 10 year backing for the National Quantum Computing Centre.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on making the UK the third most important life sciences economy globally by 2030.

Since publishing the Life Sciences Sector Plan in July, we have moved rapidly into delivery. The Plan sets out 33 concrete commitments, each with clear metrics, milestones and a named Senior Responsible Officer to drive accountability. Robust assurance mechanisms are being established to track the delivery of the Plan, including progress reporting into the Life Sciences Delivery Board every four months, and a stakeholder engagement plan to ensure sector views on delivery are captured. Delivery is already underway – with recruitment going live for the Chair and CEO of the Health Data Research Service with the Wellcome Trust, and the recent launch of both Europe's first Biofoundry for mRNA manufacturing and the £85m Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme with Eli Lilly – all part of building the UK into Europe’s leading life sciences economy by 2030.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on developing a new network for Robotics Adoption Hubs.

As part of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, HMG committed £40 million to establish a new network of Robotics Adoption Hubs with the expertise, equipment and connections to help accelerate firms to take up robotics. DSIT is currently working to finalise programme design, including through engagement with wider Government and industry with an expected launch in 2026.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what the scope is of the National Quantum Technologies Programme.

The UK's Industrial Strategy names quantum as one of six priority frontier technologies in the dedicated digital and technologies sector plan.The Plan commits to delivering an ambitious next phase of the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme to accelerate the development, scaling and adoption of quantum technologies.Priorities outlined in the plan include:Progressing the UK’s 5 National Quantum Missions.Enabling access to infrastructure, developing an innovative regulatory environment and delivering a series of deep international collaborations across research, industry and regulation.Developing a skills action plan with the sector.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what proportion of funding for preclinical infrastructure linked to translational research networks will be allocated to (a) developing non-animal methods of testing and (b) phasing out animal testing.

The Government is committed to supporting non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption. The majority of the £30 million for preclinical infrastructure linked to translational research networks announced in the Industrial Strategy is expected to support alternative methods, however exact allocations are yet to be completed and will be announced in due course.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on developing a route for international reliance for (a) medicines and (b) medical devices.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency launched an International Recognition Procedure for medicines in January 2024. The MHRA, with the support of the Office for Life Sciences and Department of Health and Social Care, is continuing the development of an international reliance framework for medical devices. The MHRA published on 22 July the government response to the consultation on Medical Devices Regulations, which address international reliance for medical devices. The MHRA intends to implement three international reliance routes for medical devices and intends to consult further on the international reliance routes for CE-marked medical devices.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on establishing the new Sovereign AI Unit.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has established the Sovereign AI Unit, backed by up to £500million, to back promising UK-based AI companies operating in critical domains. The Unit will provide targeted support to enable high-potential start-ups and scale ups to become national AI champions, with investment via the British Business Bank, and other government tools such as procurement, regulatory pathways and access to data, talent, and compute. It is early days for the Unit ahead of its funding coming online from next April but already it has invested £8 million in the OpenBind consortium to accelerate drug discovery, and allocated compute via the UK’s AI Research Resource to high-quality research projects.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what the purpose is of the AI Energy Council.

The AI Energy Council was established to address the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence.Co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for DSIT and DESNZ, the Council brings together leaders from the AI and energy sectors to advise on preparing the UK’s energy system for the increasing energy demand of AI. It also explores how AI can support a modern, efficient, and sustainable energy system, aligned with Clean Power 2030 goals and the UK’s net zero ambitions.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what the projected expansion is of the AI Research Resource in each year from 2025.

The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy referenced the Government’s commitment to expand the Government’s AI Research Resource (AIRR) by at least 20x by 2030, accelerating AI innovation through significantly increased compute capacity and support for start-ups. The subsequent Compute Roadmap detailed how the Government intends to invest up to £2 billion to deliver a diverse, joined-up and user centered compute ecosystem. This includes over £1 billion to expand the AI Research Resource (AIRR) 20x by 2030 and up to £750 million for a new national supercomputer service in Edinburgh.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what proportion of funding for Genomics England will be allocated to (a) developing non-animal methods of testing and (b) phasing out animal testing.

Genomics England, Our Future Health and UK Biobank contribute important human data to the UK’s diverse research portfolio that supports alternative method development, including organ-on-a-chip, cell-based assays, functional genomics and computer modelling. The Health Data Research Service will also contribute in future, However, this research is not categorised by application, so calculating funding for alternative methods specifically is not possible. UKRI also invests £10 million annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), with future investment under review.The Government will publish a strategy to support alternative methods later this year.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what proportion of funding for UK BioBank will be allocated to (a) developing non-animal methods of testing and (b) phasing out animal testing.

Genomics England, Our Future Health and UK Biobank contribute important human data to the UK’s diverse research portfolio that supports alternative method development, including organ-on-a-chip, cell-based assays, functional genomics and computer modelling. The Health Data Research Service will also contribute in future, However, this research is not categorised by application, so calculating funding for alternative methods specifically is not possible. UKRI also invests £10 million annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), with future investment under review.The Government will publish a strategy to support alternative methods later this year.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what proportion of funding for Our Future Health will be allocated to (a) developing non-animal methods of testing and (b) phasing out animal testing.

Genomics England, Our Future Health and UK Biobank contribute important human data to the UK’s diverse research portfolio that supports alternative method development, including organ-on-a-chip, cell-based assays, functional genomics and computer modelling. The Health Data Research Service will also contribute in future, However, this research is not categorised by application, so calculating funding for alternative methods specifically is not possible. UKRI also invests £10 million annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), with future investment under review.The Government will publish a strategy to support alternative methods later this year.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what proportion of funding for the Health Data Research Service will be allocated to (a) increasing development of non-animal methods of testing and (b)phasing out animal testing.

Genomics England, Our Future Health and UK Biobank contribute important human data to the UK’s diverse research portfolio that supports alternative method development, including organ-on-a-chip, cell-based assays, functional genomics and computer modelling. The Health Data Research Service will also contribute in future, However, this research is not categorised by application, so calculating funding for alternative methods specifically is not possible. UKRI also invests £10 million annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), with future investment under review.The Government will publish a strategy to support alternative methods later this year.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on bringing globally mobile manufacturing investments to the UK via the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.

The up to £520m Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund was launched in 2024 to incentivise commercial-scale manufacturing of medicines and medical devices. The fund aims to drive economic growth and build UK health resilience. There have been four application rounds to date and we expect to announce the first set of grant winners in the coming month. In addition, we have recently invested £30 million in a new UK RNA Biofoundry, and we continue to work on our long-term partnerships with Moderna and BioNTech, which will grow the UK’s manufacturing and R&D capabilities for the benefit of UK patients.

Innovation and Technology, how much funding from the National Security and Strategic Investment Fund will go to companies in Huntingdon constituency.

The National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) is the UK Government’s corporate venture arm for dual-use technologies. NSSIF invests in technology start-ups to deliver future capabilities for National Security and Defence (NS&D), and funds R&D work programmes with companies.The programme was established for the purpose of delivering national security and defence objectives, and so funding does not have a geographic mandate. NSSIF is always looking to identify promising UK-based companies that align to its mission, though cannot speculate on the specific locations of future funding recipients.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what funding he has provided to the Cambridge x Manchester Innovation partnership.

Through Research England, we are providing almost £4.8 million over three years to support the Cambridge x Manchester Innovation Partnership. This exciting initiative brings together the Universities of Cambridge and Manchester, alongside local authorities and businesses, to strengthen relations within and between these regions’ innovation ecosystems.The partnership will pilot new approaches to place-to-place collaboration between ecosystems. This will share best practice, support start-ups and scale-ups to deliver jobs and opportunities, and stimulate investment into research and development, contributing directly to the delivery of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, how much of the £500 million Local Innovation Partnerships Fund will be spent in Huntingdon constituency.

The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund will invest up to £500 million in growing high-potential innovation clusters across the UK. Ten regions have been earmarked to receive at least £30 million each, with other parts of the UK – including Huntingdon – able to bid for support. The application window will open shortly and UKRI has published initial guidance to help prospective applicants.The fund complements UKRI’s wider investment in R&D, and in 2023-24 UKRI invested £756 million in East Anglia. This included grants to Huntingdon businesses like BG Research, which is exploring in-field detection of veterinary pathogens to advance farming innovation.