UK Research and Innovation – Supplementary written evidence (LSI0129)

Letter from Sir Mark Walport, Chief Executive Officer, UK Research and lnnovation, following an evidence session on 12 December 2017.

Life Sciences and the lndustrial Strategy lnquiry

When I gave evidence to your Committee on 12 December, I promised to respond in greater detail to Baroness Young’s question on charities research support funding.

Charities research support (CRS) is an element of the Quality-related Research (QR) funding to universities, and is allocated to universities in proportion to their income from charitable sources. This element is designed to recognise the value of charitable funding to research, and that costs borne by universities for this work often exceed revenue from charitable sources.

In aggregate, the value of this funding has been protected in recent years, whilst other funding streams have been under some pressure. The charities research support element of QR funding has been maintained at £198m p.a. since 2010/11. However, since the volume of charity-funded university research has increased, the value per project has decreased.

Baroness Young asked whether the NHS is now less willing to take part in research collaborations with the charities due to reductions in CRS funding. I would note that this funding does not directly support NHS-led collaborations with charities, but rather charity-sponsored research at universities. Therefore I do not expect changes in CRS levels to have a significant impact on the NHS’ ability to collaborate with charities.

I trust that this response is helpful for the Committee. I am copying this letter to David Sweeney, Executive Chair designate of Research England.

4 January 2018