Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Provide government departments and public routine access to UKRI funding allocation data.
Conclusion
There is insufficient clarity about, and visibility of, where UKRI is investing its money. Knowing where UKRI invests its money is essential to good financial management, while also helping organisations in the private sector to guide their investment decisions. For example, it can be more attractive for investors, and more effective for government, to invest in geographic regions where there are existing clusters of high-quality researchers, essential infrastructure and local skills. These types of decision are made easier if investors can easily access clear and comprehensive data on where government is already invested in R&I. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government said it would spend £20.4 billion on research and development in 2025–26, channelled through both UKRI and the other parts of government that fund research and development. Government intends to better define and justify its allocation of research and innovation funding under three categories: knowledge-driven basic research; targeted research aligned to government ambitions including economic growth; and investment to support innovative businesses including scale-up. But DSIT and UKRI do not yet have a system that brings together the data on all research and innovation spending across government. UKRI is developing its new grants “databank” with the aim of capturing data on research that it manages on behalf of other departments, as well as research that other departments manage directly. UKRI has a long-term ambition of linking up all such the data across government, but did not give us a target date for achieving this aim. recommendation To provide clear, comprehensive and useful data for government, external investors and the public about the overall R&I funding landscape, once its new data systems are in place, UKRI should: • provide government departments with ongoing access to data on UKRI funding allocations; and • publish these data on a routine basis. 4
Government Response Summary
The government agreed, acknowledging existing data access but committed to launching a new online portal by Summer 2026, improving data coverage, and publishing detailed UKRI allocations for the next Spending Review period before the next financial year. UKRI will report on progress in February 2026.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. UKRI Gateway to Research website. UKRI Gateway to Research provides ongoing open access to data on projects, people, organisations and outcomes from 2006 to the present day and is updated every quarter. However, DSIT and UKRI acknowledge that further work is needed to ensure that this data is both comprehensive and easily accessible, and UKRI is developing a new online portal to replace Gateway to Research, currently planned to be launched in Summer 2026. The new online portal will draw data from UKRI’s data warehouse, Databank, which provides a repository for information on research and innovation grants. Work is underway to improve the coverage of the UKRI portfolio in this published data and to clearly identify funds managed on behalf of other government departments. This will improve the availability of UKRI funding data to all users, including government officials, investors and members of the public. Changes to increase the published detail of UKRI funding data are underway now and will steadily deliver improved coverage of the portfolio. UKRI will report to the Committee on progress made and further plans in February 2026. DSIT and UKRI will also publish a detailed breakdown of UKRI allocations for the next Spending Review period, before the start of the next financial year.