Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill Third Reading 3.49pm
Schedule 1: The Advanced Research and Invention Agency Amendment 1
Moved by Lord Callanan 1: Schedule 1, page 7, line 40, leave out
from beginning to “not” and insert “Sub-paragraph (1) does”
Member’s explanatory statement This amendment removes a reference
to a paragraph that was removed at Report. The Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State, Department for...Request free trial
Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill
Third Reading
3.49pm
Schedule 1: The Advanced Research and Invention Agency
Amendment 1
Moved by
1: Schedule 1, page 7, line 40, leave out from beginning to “not”
and insert “Sub-paragraph (1) does”
Member’s explanatory statement
This amendment removes a reference to a paragraph that was
removed at Report.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
My Lords, Amendment 1 is minor and technical and is consequential
to the amendment made on Report in the name of my noble friend
Lady Noakes.
My noble friend’s amendment removed the power for the Secretary
of State to determine a pension or gratuity for non-executive
members. This government amendment is needed to remove a
reference to that power, which no longer exists, in paragraph
7(4) of Schedule 1. This paragraph disapplies the power for the
Secretary of State to determine a pension or gratuity for the
Government Chief Scientific Adviser, who will sit as a
non-executive member on ARIA’s board ex officio. The power is of
course not relevant in this case due to the Chief Scientific
Adviser’s existing employment and pension entitlement as a civil
servant. As the original power no longer exists, I am sure that
noble Lords will agree that this reference needs to be removed to
tidy up the Bill before it returns to the Commons for
consideration of the amendments made in this House.
My Lords, is it in order to congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady
Noakes, on her success in moving her amendment in Committee? I
watched as it went through and I thought how pleasing it must be
for anyone to get an amendment accepted by the Government.
Amendment 1 agreed.
Motion
Moved by
That the Bill do now pass.
My Lords, it is my great pleasure to thank all those who have
supported the progress of this Bill. I first thank my Whip, my
noble friend Lady Bloomfield, who is currently demonstrating just
how good she is at multi-tasking because she is in Grand
Committee supervising another piece of legislation going through.
It is always a joy to work alongside her with her support,
capability and good humour.
As we have debated this Bill, I am of course grateful to have
witnessed the shared ambition across the House for our nation to
cement its role as a science superpower and for recognition of
the important role that additional funding for high-risk research
can play within that, through the ARIA model. While this is a
relatively short Bill, the debate has none the less been
thorough, as is right and proper in this House—from the role of
ARIA in the R&D landscape to the definition of gratuities. It
has demonstrated once again the important function of this
House.
To that end, I join the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, in
thanking my noble friend Lady Noakes for her efforts in
sharpening the governance arrangements set out in the Bill, and
my other noble friends , and Lady Neville-Rolfe, among
others, for contributing their considerable experience.
I thank, on the part of the Opposition, the noble Baroness, Lady
Chapman, for her constructive challenge on many parts of the
Bill. I think we worked well together, and I look forward to
continuing to work with her on future Bills. I also pay tribute
to the noble Lords, , and , the noble Viscount,
Lord Stansgate, and members of the Science and Technology
Committee for their very thoughtful contributions. I particularly
welcome the thoughtful debate we have had on, for instance,
intellectual property and the importance of retaining its
benefits. I thank all noble Lords who spoke on these important
issues. I am sure that the noble Lord, , especially, will
closely follow the words of the Science Minister as the Bill
returns to the other place.
It would be remiss of me not to also thank, once again, the
excellent team of officials who have been behind me on this Bill.
As always, I am just the front guy, as it were. Their support has
been invaluable and a tribute once again to the finest traditions
of the Civil Service. I particularly single out my private
secretary, Hannah Cowie, for her support; the Bill manager,
Andrew Crawford, and his deputy, Salisa Kaur; and Katie Reardon,
Alex Prior, Robert Magowan and Charles Norris for their work over
the last 18 months—a considerable time—to take this Bill forward
and, hopefully in the near future, get it on the statute book. I
also thank the broader ARIA team and colleagues across government
who are undertaking the programme of work to make it a brilliant
and realistic success.
Finally, let me recognise the exemplary work of the parliamentary
counsel in both drafting this Bill and supporting its progress at
so many points during its passage so far, and, of course, the
House authorities, parliamentary staff, clerks and doorkeepers.
As I mentioned, this is a relatively short Bill, but I really do
believe its potential impact is profound. I know I am not alone
in this House in looking forward in anticipation to all that will
come out of ARIA and the benefits it will create for the research
community, businesses and the everyday lives of people across
this country.
My Lords, first I should apologise for not being here to
participate in the Report stage of this Bill. My disappointment
was alleviated by the knowledge that my colleague and noble
friend would more than
compensate for my absence. I thank him for that and for his
assistance throughout consideration of the Bill, and my noble
friends Lady Randerson and for their work. I also thank the
Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, and the
departmental team that has seen this Bill through; and the noble
Baroness, Lady Chapman, the Labour Party and their team for
working with us and the Cross-Benchers in a collegiate way. This
was an example of good scrutiny coming to the fore. Finally, a
big thank you to Sarah Pughe in our office for her support.
We still do not really know what ARIA is. Until it is decided who
is leading ARIA, we will not know what its purpose is or how it
will interact with the rest of the research environment. During
the debate the Minister undertook to keep us informed—while
enshrining secrecy in the Bill, of course, at the same time. So,
I hope he will be able to keep us well informed as this effort
unfolds —indeed, perhaps in advance of things happening. Without
wishing to rain on the parade, we should keep a sense of
proportion about what this is. This primary legislation has put
in place a research effort worth about £200 million to 300
million per year. Meanwhile, the UK’s participation in Horizon
Europe has more or less evaporated. During the debate, there were
many discussions about the effectiveness of UKRI. In accepting
this Bill and moving forward with ARIA, we would be grateful if
the Minister also addressed these two elephants in the room: the
continued participation of the United Kingdom in Horizon Europe
and making sure that UKRI is as effective as it really can be, in
order to make a big difference to the research effort in this
country.
of Darlington
My Lords, we are pleased to see ARIA move to its next stage and
we look forward to the inventions and innovations that will come
from it. I was particularly pleased to see the amendment from my
noble friend Lord Browne, which will secure the intellectual
property that comes about as a result of investment by taxpayers
via ARIA. I hope that Ministers in the other place see the
benefit of it and feel able to support it. We will, of course, be
listening very carefully to what is said about that.
As the Minister well knows, we are concerned by the rejection of
the amendments on transparency and accountability. As the noble
Lord, , rightly reminded us, the
research environment has changed dramatically since our departure
from the EU, and we would encourage Ministers to resolve their
outstanding differences and make sure that Horizon participation
is secured for the future.
However, for today, I would just like to thank the Minister and
his team. He is correct in what he said about the nature of the
discussions we had. This is my first Bill in this place and I
have learned an awful lot and made some new friends, I think,
through the process of the Bill, particularly my noble friend
Lord Stansgate, and the noble Lords, , , and Lord Clement-Jones—I have
already mentioned my noble friend Lord Browne. I also thank the
officers of the House and all other noble Lords who contributed.
I should put on record, too, my thanks to Dan Stevens, our
political and legislative adviser, who has been enormously
helpful to me, as a new Member, in being prepared for the process
of seeing through a Bill in this place. I thank all noble Lords
who contributed.
Bill passed and returned to the Commons with amendments.
|
