Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 20
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Despite developing modern IT systems being a priority for UKRI since 2019, the introduction of updated systems has been delayed.48 This delay, UKRI told us, was due to lengthy government procurement processes and “challenges of delivery in UKRI”.49 However, once fully functional, UKRI told us its new system should capture the data it requires and meet all UKRI’s needs, such as making it much easier and quicker to produce reports on where UKRI was placing its investments.50 We pressed UKRI on how soon it would achieve these improvements. It told us that it had a target date of January 2026 by which to have 90% of its data available in its new “Databank”.51 UKRI told us that its new system will be more user-friendly for grant applicants and efficient for UKRI staff, leaving more time to devote to the strategic role of “asking what people are applying for and how we should shape our calls”, and less time on the paperwork of putting a proposal forward.52
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".