How can Govt support pioneering research and innovation?
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold an evidence session scrutinising the work of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) at 10am on Thursday 5 June.
Meeting details
Research and innovation (R&I) is considered by government to be vital to the UK’s future and to achieving its long-term and complex policy goals. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government committed to invest £20.4bn in R&I in 2025-26. In 2023-24 UKRI had a budget of £9.6 billion, making it the UK's largest single public funder of R&I.
Two panels will be held. The PAC will first hear from Sir David Grant CBE, who led the 2022 Independent review of UKRI; and Prof Paul Boyle CBE, who is the Policy Lead for R&I of Universities UK, and Vice Chancellor of Swansea University. The PAC will seek witnesses’ views on what UKRI does well, and where improvements can be made. The PAC will then hear from Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser DBE FRS, UKRI’s chief executive, and senior officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
A likely focus of questions will be how to get the right risk management and organisational culture to support genuinely pioneering R&I. Decision-makers in the organisation identified to the National Audit Office’s recent report on UKRI potential barriers to operating with well-managed risk, such as concerns over the reputational implications of contentious projects, funding constraints leading to less openness to failure, and a perceived culture of risk aversion in the academic community which may influence decisions made in the peer review process.
PAC members are also likely to discuss UKRI’s own strategic objectives and performance, as well as any insights and good practice in supporting R&I.