Tabled by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress has been made since
the United Kingdom re-joined Horizon Europe.
of Hudnall (Lab)
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Stansgate, and at his
request, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on
the Order Paper.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Science, Innovation and Technology () (Con)
Our bespoke Horizon association deal means that UK researchers
can now fully participate on the same terms as researchers from
other associated countries. The Government want UK academics,
researchers and businesses to seize the opportunities presented
by participation in Horizon Europe. Yesterday, the Government
continued our push to maximise UK participation with the launch
of a campaign to encourage UK businesses, academics and
researchers to apply to Horizon Europe.
of Hudnall (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for a very optimistic prospect,
but as he knows, negotiations for the UK to rejoin Horizon were
protracted and quite difficult. While there was great relief in
the research community when they were eventually successful—he
may have heard the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Dame
talking about this on the
“Today” programme this morning—there is ground for the UK to make
up. Now that we have rejoined, is the Minister confident that
UK-led research bids in this new round will attract their fair
share of available funding? Is he aware of any difficulties there
might be with visa arrangements for EU researchers who might want
or need to come work in the UK? Can he also tell the House
whether the Government are formally represented in EU ministerial
discussions about Horizon Europe?
(Con)
I thank the noble Baroness for her questions and will try to
cover as much of the material as possible. First, I am pleased to
say that we look forward to welcoming Commissioner Ivanova to the
UK the week after next, when we will discuss many of these
matters. In fact, I will be participating the following week at a
ministerial meeting on Horizon in Brussels. It is historically
exceptional for associate countries to attend at ministerial
level, so I think it demonstrates good will on all sides.
Meanwhile, we are pursuing a wide programme of activities to
maximise participation. That includes supporting SMEs and others
who would not traditionally have worked with Horizon, as well as
a campaign launched yesterday and ministerial engagement. We
remain optimistic, but, as I have said in this House, the damage
has been done by protracted absence.
(Con)
My Lords, there are seven years of uncertainty to recover from,
but better late than never. I strongly welcome the Government’s
pump-priming on behalf of applicants to Horizon Europe. In
assessing the value for money of the programme, how important do
the Government think it is that Switzerland also rejoins, and
what efforts are they making to support Bern in that
objective?
(Con)
A range of other countries, as the noble Lord said, are also
joining on an associate basis; Horizon is the largest programme
of its type anywhere in the world. The total value of the
programme is £80 billion over two years, and we consider that
rejoining represents a significant opportunity for us following
the uncertainty of our period of non-association. As to
engagement with Bern, I am afraid that I do not have an answer
for the noble Lord, but I will look into it; it sounds like a
valuable contribution we could make.
(CB)
My Lords—
of Newnham (LD)
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords, it is the turn of the Liberal Democrat Benches.
of Newnham (LD)
My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, in
his absence for persistently bringing the issue of Horizon Europe
to your Lordships’ House. Today, obviously, we can be very glad
that the UK has rejoined, and I declare my interest as a
professor of European politics at Cambridge and as having
previously received money from European Union research funding.
Clearly, as an academic, I am delighted that we are back in, but
how much is this blitz of information about rejoining Horizon
Europe costing the Government and how far have we lost out by
being an associate member and not a full member? As the Minister
said, we are now treated like other associate members; what does
that mean in practice?
(Con)
I echo the noble Baroness’s remarks about the noble Viscount,
Lord Stansgate. Being an associate member in practice allows us
access to all Horizon calls from 2024 onwards, with the very
small-in-volume exceptions of EIC funds or what the EU has
determined to be strategically sensitive areas, including
quantum. I should add that we and the EU have publicly committed
to working towards opening even those small areas up, so we would
have very full access to the Horizon programme.
(CB)
My Lords, will the Minister accept welcome for the campaign
launched by the Government today to catch up with what was lost?
Does he recognise that many of these programmes are multiannual,
spanning quite a period, and that it would therefore be a great
help if the Government could make it clear that their intention
is that we should continue to be an associate member of Horizon
beyond the duration of the present programme?
(Con)
Yes, indeed. I very much recognise the value of the Horizon
programme. Of course, any Horizon programme beyond the current
one does not exist yet, except conceptually in the minds of all
the current participants, but obviously we would look very
favourably at participating as and when its terms were made
clear.
(Lab)
My Lords, until Brexit, it was clear that the United Kingdom was
second only to the United States in research in science,
engineering and medicine. Can the Minister be kind enough to tell
the House what assessment the Government have made of the impact
of the loss of the Horizon programme in terms of citations and
publications?
(Con)
As I have said in this House before, there is no doubt that our
period of non-association with the Horizon programme did lasting
damage. We have to focus now on repairing that damage. It is very
difficult to put a number in currency on the value of that and I
am not sure I would know where to begin. I absolutely acknowledge
that the damage was real and is going to take a very conscious
effort to fix.
(CB)
My Lords, it is good that from 1 January 2024 we are now
associate members of Horizon, with the benefits it will bring,
including the citation levels, but the Treasury withdrew £1.6
billion of funding that was earmarked for research during the
time when we were negotiating joining Horizon Europe, and I
understand from a further report published recently that a
further £1 billion was removed. Can the Minister confirm that
that is not the case?
(Con)
As is absolutely normal practice, money ring-fenced for a purpose
to which it does not go is, in order to keep budgets taut and
realistic, returned to the Treasury, but that in no way indicates
an intention to diminish our spend on science and R&D. The
Government remain committed to spending £20 billion a year on
R&D by the 2024-25 spending review.
(Lab)
My Lords, what proportion of Horizon-funded projects are now led
by UK research institutions compared to our previous well-known
standing in the European research field?
(Con)
We have only very recently reassociated to Horizon, so we will
not know who bid under the Horizon 2024 programme, or who the
leader is or who has been successful, for, on average, six to
nine months between making the proposal and receiving word, but
at that time I will keep this House up to date on that important
question.
(CB)
My Lords, today is World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day.
Historically, EU Horizon research funding has been hugely
valuable in supporting British scientists at our world-class
biomedical institutions to collaborate with Asian, African, South
American and European scientists to tackle neglected tropical
diseases and diseases such as malaria. Can the Minister reassure
the House that with our associate membership there will still be
the possibility of funding those collaborative arrangements with
the global South, with scientists in Africa, Asia and South
America, in order to tackle these terrible neglected tropical
diseases which threaten the most disadvantaged populations in the
world but also our public health?
(Con)
Yes, absolutely. I thank the noble Lord for bringing up such an
important and interesting area of science. I can confirm that our
associate membership of Horizon would give us access to any and
all Horizon calls alongside any other EU member or associate
member, provided they are not designated as strategically
significant, which those tropical diseases would not be.
