Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 11
41st Report - UK Research and Innovation
Published 23 Jul 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee UK Research and Innovation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
To be able to articulate the value of public investment in R&I, it is vital that UKRI can monitor progress and performance against specific targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In 2018, when UKRI was formed, DSIT set 10 strategic objectives for UKRI and published them in a framework document. In 2022, UKRI published its first five-year strategy, with six strategic objectives.21 None of these objectives are specific, measurable or time-bound meaning it is difficult to understand what UKRI is seeking to achieve and what DSIT expects UKRI to achieve.22 DSIT acknowledged that it can and should do more to address this and told us that it intends to introduce more measurable outcomes for UKRI during summer 2025.23
From: Public Accounts Committee, 41st Report - UK Research and Innovation (HC 826), 23 July 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-first Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 23 September 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty-first report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations on UKRI's priorities, objectives, data, IT systems, risk and scaling innovation, with target dates between Autumn 2025 and Summer 2026.
- On objectives, DSIT is developing strategic objectives for UKRI underpinned by measurable key results, and will publish them "by Autumn 2025".
- On data visibility, UKRI is developing a new online portal to replace Gateway to Research, "currently planned to be launched in Summer 2026", and will report to the Committee on progress in February 2026.
- On risk, UKRI will incorporate the NAO's recommendations into its 2025 review of its risk appetite statement, "to be completed by February 2026" and "closely monitored by DSIT".
- On scaling innovation, the impact of the new Proof-of-Concept funding "will only be possible" to understand after the first rounds conclude and are evaluated, with evaluation dates "not yet confirmed".