Science, Innovation and Technology Committee: Government agrees to track R&D spending across departments

The Government will publish departmental R&D spending statistics and plans, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has told the committee.  

Writing to committee chair Chi Onwurah, the government has agreed to publish R&D outturn data from 2019-20 to 2023-4 by March and to include future outturn data in the annual July Public Spending Statistics release. The government has also agreed that R&D spending plans should be published in each department's estimates memorandum from 2025-6 onwards.  

The government's letter is a reply to a request from the committee chair for a breakdown of R&D expenditure across government.   

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee Chair, Chi Onwurah MP, said:  

“I'm pleased that the government has committed to further transparency when it comes to R&D expenditure and planning. A key part of our work as a committee is scrutinising cross-government spending on scientific research – while the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology makes up the majority of this, plenty of research spending happens in other departments too.  

“This information will give us a much fuller picture of how money is used for R&D across the whole of government and ensure that we can thoroughly and effectively examine this expenditure. I look forward to the publication of this data, and getting to work on carrying out the proper scrutiny needed.” 

Notes to editors: 

·       The letter from Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, to Chi Onwurah can be found here.  

·       The letter from the committee chair Chi Onwurah can be found here.