Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 16
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)
UKRI is working to address significant limitations in its data systems, which restrict its ability to efficiently manage its grant spending in a strategic way. To effectively manage R&I funding, it is vital to know what is being funded across a portfolio, and against important research objectives, so that UKRI can take informed decisions such as whether projects need to be scaled up or stopped.33 Better visibility on where UKRI invests its money can also help UK trade envoys to promote opportunities for overseas investors to invest in R&I in the UK.34 Professor Boyle told us how important it is to identify geographical clusters, at which to target investment in R&I, such as the semiconductor industry in south Wales. Professor Boyle said that such clusters may already receive large amounts of innovation funding, but that such investments are not sufficiently joined-up. 35
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".