Earlier today the Chancellor presented the 2025 Spending Review, setting out departmental budgets until 2029, and investment spending plans until 2030. These announcements were preceded by a welcome promise to support research and innovation with a four-year £86bn funding package, starting from April 2026.

Earlier this year, the RSB submitted recommendations to inform these multi-year budget allocations, calling on the Government to maximise the benefits of the biosciences sector through long-term investment in research, development and innovation (RDI); people; and infrastructure. Some of the key priorities highlighted included the need to address growing education and skills challenges, regional disparities, and appropriately fund the full economic cost of research activities, including by deploying support for the higher education sector which is a critical component of the research and development (R&D) ecosystem and contributor to the economy.

We welcome the confirmation that the R&D settlement will see yearly spending reach over £22bn in 2029/30, in a fiscal context that has become more challenging according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). We also welcome the new Local Innovation Partnerships Fund, which will empower local experts to decide how to target research investment. It is an encouraging development alongside the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) recent publication of guidance to consider in the delivery of ten-year or longer R&D funding.

A long-term vision for research investment is crucial as it will provide the stability and certainty needed for the sector to continue delivering for society and the economy. The RSB and other organisations from across the RDI sector continue to encourage the Government to implement ambitious plans to enable the UK to be a leading country in the G7 in research intensity. The funding announced today would not support these ambitions as it would represent a real-terms freeze, based on inflation forecasts.

R&D spending alone will not achieve maximum benefit for cost without an appropriate research workforce supply to deliver these imperative outcomes. The Government’s plans to provide £1.2bn of additional investment per year by 2028-29 to address skills challenges across sectors is a step in the right direction to achieve economic growth and break down barriers to opportunity.

The detail will be subject to further sector analysis in the coming days. We also look forward to the publication of the Industrial Strategy later this month.