Speeches by Kyle.

“DSIT contributes to the global programme, the International Science Partnerships Fund. We will be maintaining support for that fund.[2] I have not yet made decisions on whether we adjust that funding, based on global trends and the priorities of this Government, but we certainly seek to leverage the very best of the Br…”

“That is such a good question, because all of us in this room have a passion for the potential of science and technology, and its achievements. In Government, of course, it is tenfold that, because there is a lot more that Government need to do in order to deliver for citizens up and down the country. We have five missi…”

“I hope so.”

“You just perfectly described the need for the national data library, which is in the scoping phase now. This is going to take a long time to deliver, but we are expediting it as quickly as we can. It is being led by Maggie Jones, who is our outstanding Minister from the House of Lords. Over time, all Government data fr…”

“We anticipate some fairly rapid movement here. The use of data in the NHS is a really challenging issue. There are a lot of legacy systems. Different health trusts, primary care settings and individual hospitals are using different data being stored in different ways, which often are not interoperable within the same h…”

“The fact that we stood on a prospectus and manifesto based on a decade of national renewal has given licence to people like me—and thank you for your words at the beginning; I am having the time of my life in this job. It gives licence to people like me to undertake programmes that are going to take quite a long time t…”

“Thank you, Chair. Congratulations on becoming Chair, and congratulations to everybody who is on the Committee. I hear, loud and clear, the spirit of the words with which you introduced me. I will try to play my part and to be as open-hearted and informative as possible. Having been on a similar Committee for a long per…”

“It is your job to assess my first five months in post. What I have tried to do is to deliver a set of machinery of government changes. We are the only Department that was allowed to make significant machinery of government changes. That was because the Prime Minister accepted that, to achieve the three broad ambitions …”

“I would like to be held to account for the focus that we have on R&D and science towards the national missions of our country, not just those that we set out as a Government, but the priorities that the country has. We have an outstanding scientific community. The work that UKRI and all of our funding bodies do is exem…”

“I do not expect there to be trade-offs. We are not a mission lead. There are five missions for this Government. DSIT is not the lead for any of them, but we are, to use the phrase that the Prime Minister has used, the foundations upon which all of the missions sit. It is not going to be possible for us to meet any of t…”

“Growth is going to become a priority for every Government Department. The Health Secretary said, quite wisely, that his is a growth Department, because, unless you have a healthy nation and you get waiting lists down, we are not going to be able to maximise our potential as an economy. Every Government Department is ta…”

“The only part of Mr Freeman’s question that I did not answer was about clusters. We recognise areas and partnerships that add up to more than the sum of their parts. There are, clearly, areas in the scientific and research community that do that. I have spoken to the university sector to try to understand ways in which…”

“You have seen from the investment summit that we have been quite successful already in unlocking additional investment into the economy, particularly on technology and digital infrastructure. You will have noticed that I have updated digital infrastructure to that of critical national infrastructure. The planning refor…”

“The Budget was the first step forward when it came to stabilising university finances, which is the majority of funding that goes through our R&D budget. We will not be able to get to where we need to be to offer the security that the university sector needs—and to where we as a country need that to be—in one step. Tha…”

“We are going to be investing in those areas that have the biggest impact in research potential.”

“This is research-focused. Right across Government, we are supporting organisations in scientific communities in different ways, particularly in universities. As the Chancellor said at the Dispatch Box during the Budget, we cannot solve every problem in one go. In those key areas, you can see where we are investing and …”

“I am completely content, simply because the Information Commissioner himself has fully endorsed the changes that we have made and the direction of travel that we have had. We have independence baked into that particular office. We also have an Information Commissioner who speaks very candidly, as you will see when you …”

“We are ready for the review. The relationship that I established in the first fortnight or couple of weeks of coming into office with the European Commission is one that I welcomed. We have had several conversations now from my position with the relevant commissioner in the European Union, and we have reached a pretty …”

“I have a slight advantage because I am setting it up for the first time, so it will be modelled really on what I have asked for specifically, which is granular information on the progress of projects and priorities for the Department. Sarah and I speak about this quite often. We are trying to make sure we get it right.…”

“The digital centre is now quite publicly spoken about and quite widely known. What is not known is that I have also set up a delivery unit within DSIT, because DSIT has never been a delivery Department before in that sense. We will be delivering services to citizens, which you will see next year. We are now responsible…”