Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Health Science and Innovation

Wednesday 25 June 2025 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Emily Darlington questioned the Minister about the potential impact of health science and innovation funding on the UK's global influence.
  • The Minister emphasized the importance of British medical innovation in global health and the role of the UK's industrial strategy in supporting this influence.
  • Gregory Campbell inquired about the distribution of the life and health sciences launchpad funding in Northern Ireland, highlighting an imbalance in funding across different regions.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Emily Darlington Lab Milton Keynes Central
NHS Science & Technology
Context

Discussion about the impact of UK funding on global medical innovation and influence.

Question

What assessment has he made of the potential impact of funding for health science and innovation on the UK’s global influence?

Answer from The Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms (Chris Bryant)

From the development of vaccines to the discovery of the structure of DNA, British medical innovation has played a fundamental role in changing the lives of people globally and extending the UK’s global influence. Our industrial strategy and forthcoming life sciences sector plan will put the UK at the very centre of global efforts.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address specific impact assessment requested, only made general statements about importance.

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Q2 Emily Darlington Lab Milton Keynes Central
NHS Science & Technology
Context

Discussion about UK's commitment to Gavi and its impact on global health and biosecurity.

Question

As the Minister will know, Gavi and the Global Fund not only provide a global vaccine programme and programmes on saving lives from malaria and HIV but also provide us with biosecurity and jobs in the UK. What assessment has he made of whether the UK is to reduce our efforts in that regard?

Answer from The Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms (Chris Bryant)

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is absolutely essential, not only for other countries in the world, where we have managed to save many lives by introducing vaccines, but for UK innovation. We are fully committed to Gavi. We will be producing our life sciences sector plan soon, and we want to celebrate the sector, which represents 6,800 business and £100 billion of turnover every year.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not address specific assessment request, only reaffirmed commitment without specifics.

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Q3 Gregory Campbell DUP East Londonderry
Northern Ireland Science & Technology Business & Trade
Context

Discussion about the distribution of projects funded by the life and health sciences launchpad in Northern Ireland.

Question

The Minister will be aware that the life and health sciences launchpad in Northern Ireland has so far funded 32 business-led projects. That is good news, but 23 of the projects are in the Greater Belfast area. Will the Minister join me and others in our efforts to ensure that there is greater knowledge about the launchpad across the whole of Northern Ireland so that we can all benefit from this very worthwhile project?

Answer from The Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms (Chris Bryant)

Yes, indeed. When I was talking about the creative industries sector plan as part of the industrial strategy last week, exactly the same point was made. Belfast is obviously a great centre for innovation and the creative industries, but we need to make sure that the sector extends across the whole of Northern Ireland. It is a point that has been extremely well made.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not commit to specific actions or support requested, only acknowledged importance.

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