Government on track to give science a boost

CaSE has welcomed a marked increase in R&D investment announced by the Government, towards meeting a research intensity of 2.4% GDP by 2027

The Government has announced a research funding allocation of £10.4 billion for the year 2020-21. This follows March’s Spring Budget, in which the Government announced plans to increase public R&D investment to £22 billion per year by 2024-25, exceeding the previous commitment to double science investment to £18bn. 

CaSE has long-called for increased R&D investment to unlock the scientific potential of the UK and we’re delighted that the Government are putting their words into action.

Commenting on the announcement, CaSE Assistant Director Daniel Rathbone said:

“Following on from the announcement by the Chancellor in March of a significant increase in research spending in 2020/21, we now see that UKRI’s budget will increase by a very welcome 20%. This will allow significantly increased investment in the UK’s science base – supporting research that has the ability to drive economic growth and improve quality of life across the UK.

“The additional investment can also help protect and stabilise the delicate research ecosystem as it feels the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. We look forward to seeing more detail from both the Government and UKRI about how it will be protected in the coming weeks.”

Analysis

The latest BEIS research allocations represent a:

• 19% increase in BEIS’ total research budget from last year
• 20% increase in UKRI budgets from last year
• £1.6bn increase in BEIS’ total research budget from last year

Note: These comparisons are based on current published figures. Actual figures may vary.

The latest BEIS research budget allocation of £10.4bn for 2020/21 goes a long way towards matching CaSE’s recommendation that public R&D investment reach £11.2bn for that year. This is taken from CaSE’s funding projection towards reaching a research intensity of 2.4% of GDP by 2027. With further investment expected from other parts of government, we would expect this projected figure to be met or even exceeded for 2020/21.

You can read CaSE’s projections for reaching research intensity of 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

You can read CaSE’s analysis of the 2020 Budget.