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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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.

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, how many of the Government’s new AI Growth Zones are in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) the Huntingdon constituency.

The formal application process for AI Growth Zones opened in April 2025. We will be communicating to all formal applicants the outcome of their application shortly and we will move selected sites forward as soon as they are ready. This approach ensures critical AI infrastructure can be delivered quickly to support the UK’s AI ecosystem, enabling development and deployment across sectors while delivering economic benefits across all parts of the country.

Innovation and Technology, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 12 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made in building the UK national security agenda for (a) AI and (b) other frontier technologies in order to accelerate adoption in key sectors.

DSIT is supporting the implementation of the National Security Strategy by identifying, nurturing, and protecting the UK’s sovereign strengths in science, technology, and innovation, and by aligning objectives and metrics to achieve measurable results.The government's response to the AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out a comprehensive programme of work to build national capacity and accelerate adoption. This includes our commitment to 20x public compute, establishing the sovereign AI unit backed by up to £500 million, and our investment into cutting edge research via the AI security institute. We have also committed to publishing an AI for Science strategy.DSIT has also committed to work with the Ministry of Defence to pull through innovative capabilities to mission at speed and foster a thriving and world-leading UK defence technology sector through collaboration in multiple areas e.g. on the creation of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) and closer working on National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) investment programmes.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 12 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made in building the UK national security agenda for (a) AI and (b) other frontier technologies in order to create more national capacity.

DSIT is supporting the implementation of the National Security Strategy by identifying, nurturing, and protecting the UK’s sovereign strengths in science, technology, and innovation, and by aligning objectives and metrics to achieve measurable results.The government's response to the AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out a comprehensive programme of work to build national capacity and accelerate adoption. This includes our commitment to 20x public compute, establishing the sovereign AI unit backed by up to £500 million, and our investment into cutting edge research via the AI security institute. We have also committed to publishing an AI for Science strategy.DSIT has also committed to work with the Ministry of Defence to pull through innovative capabilities to mission at speed and foster a thriving and world-leading UK defence technology sector through collaboration in multiple areas e.g. on the creation of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) and closer working on National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) investment programmes.

Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 36 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what improvements have been made as a result of science and technology collaborations with New Zealand.

The Prime Minister has set out that national security is the first duty of our Government and international cooperation with like-minded countries is in the national interest. Science and technology are essential to delivering this: technologies are increasingly dual use, offering broad strategic advantage and improving our ability to tackle transnational challenges. The UK and New Zealand are long-standing partners on defence and security and have shared ambitions to deepen cooperation. This includes recent agreements to work together on Earth Observation from Space and protecting Antarctica as a place for peace and science.

Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of removing legislation that requires the Intellectual Property Office to seal patents with wax on (a) money and (b) time savings.

Legislation requires that certified office copies, which verify the content of patent applications, are provided with a physical seal but the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) does not use wax. The IPO is exploring measures to modernise its services, this includes giving users the option of choosing between digital and paper certified copies. A consultation on this has revealed that the majority of users support the introduction of digital certified office copies alongside paper, with some highlighting that this would make processes more efficient, quicker and cheaper. Legislation to remove the requirement would be accompanied by an impact assessment in which these matters would be addressed.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2025 to question 64795 on MBR Acres, what are the nature of the national security concerns regarding the site.

MBR Acres is a critical part of the UK’s preclinical research infrastructure, which in turn is crucial for domestic pandemic preparedness. Another pandemic is the top rated risk in the National Risk Register and discovery and development of therapeutics and vaccines, which relies on preclinical research, is one of the outcomes of the UK Biological Security Strategy.

Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63169 on MBR Acres, what support his Department is providing to MBR.

Due to national security concerns, I cannot provide more detailed information.