This week's budget unveiled an ambitious package of announcements designed to boost the UK’s science and technology sectors, unleashing innovation to drive growth, create jobs, and improve lives.
Alongside tax cuts for workers, harnessing technology to benefit the public sector was at the heart of the Chancellor’s Spring Budget that will deliver the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future for Britain, and improve economic security and opportunity for everyone.
An £800 million reform package will free-up time for staff at the frontline of public services including cutting result waiting times in the NHS and slashing admin tasks for the police.
In a further boost for the UK’s world-class life sciences sector, charities including Cancer Research UK will receive £45 million to help launch the next generation of medical research careers. The move will assist in the fight against some the biggest global health challenges including diseases such as dementia, cancer, and epilepsy – while making the innovations that will help grow the economy.
The statement also backed science and tech businesses through investments in critical life science manufacturing projects worth £92 million, set to increase health resilience whilst supporting innovation and job creation. This is part of the wider Government plan to keep building a stronger economy where hard work is rewarded, ambition and aspiration are celebrated, and young people get the skills they need to succeed in life.
Two major pharmaceutical companies are already investing a combined £84 million in their UK manufacturing sites and will receive an extra cash injection from government. Almac in Northern Ireland produces drugs to treat diseases such as cancer and heart disease whilst Ortho Clinical diagnostics in Pencoed Wales is expanding testing facilities to help identify a range of conditions and diseases.
To ensure the UK remains an international leader in AI safety and to support the transition to an AI-enabled economy to fuel growth, funding of the world-leading Turing Institute will be boosted to £100 million. This will help cement the institutes leadership in setting research agendas alongside supporting UK business and government’s adoption of AI.
The funding comes on top of the £100 million already invested to establish the UK’s AI Safety Institute – the world’s first state-backed institute dedicated to AI Safety.
