The Spending Review was published in the UK this week, with the Chancellor Rachel Reeves setting out the government’s spending plans for the next few years. It is of course dismaying to see the reduction in funds associated with the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget, and consequently the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) having fewer resources to work with, given the growing magnitude of global challenges.
Among the announcements made, however, was the increase in funding for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research and development (R&D) funding to reach £15.2 billion per year by 2029-2030. This is good news and a recognition of the importance of UK R&D to stimulating innovation, tackling social challenges and improving lives across the UK.
Many of the announcements relating to funding for R&D are focused on artificial intelligence (AI), but other areas include £500 million for a programme to accelerate delivery of the government’s missions, and funding for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Horizon Europe. More detail will come in the Industrial Strategy, later this month.
This is all very welcome. But we are concerned about indications outside of this Spending Review about the government’s lack of support for addressing complex international challenges, which affect us all, including in the UK. We hope also to see more clarity, given the government’s welcome emphasis on more, respectful and trust-based partnerships, on how practically to create the conditions needed for research partnerships that are equitable, international and cut across different science disciplines.
Global research collaboration is essential
Global collaboration is essential to address the scientific challenges of our time, such as reducing the spread of infectious diseases, tackling the impacts of climate change or developing equitable approaches to AI.
At IDS, we know from experience that valuing and including different types of sciences, from the technical to the social, and including diverse knowledges from those with lived experiences in different contexts is also essential to addressing complex challenges. High-tech research alone won’t be enough without the understanding of how to put these learnings into practice and account for human behaviour and the different needs of people and their social realities.
Unfortunately, the recent Immigration White Paper projected a government suspicious of internationalisation. Making visa processes more restrictive, or introducing a levy on international students – an idea repeated in the Spending Review – discourage the research and innovation that the Review calls for.
To really make scientific progress and restore the UK’s global reputation for research and science, the government needs to be more outward-looking in both its rhetoric for championing international cooperation, and more welcoming of international talent through its policies. International partnerships, including all different types of science disciplines and knowledges are vital.
The Prime Minister should also lead from the top to champion and welcome our international colleagues and students, who bring so much value – far beyond just monetary – to institutes like ours and universities across the country. And he should recognise that long-term damage is caused when he projects the UK as an unwelcoming country.
FCDO the biggest budget loser
Returning to the starkness of the cuts to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, and the FCDO emerging as the big loser in the Spending Review: we had hoped that the government would be able to offset the plummeting of ODA by reducing the amount of money the Home Office spendings on housing asylum seekers (so called in-country donor refugee costs), but the government has only committed to ending the “use of expensive hotel accommodation in this Parliament”. This means that the government will continue to spend around 20 percent of the ODA budget here in the UK.
We are very concerned about the potentially negative impact of current UK Government messaging and policy decisions such as these on public attitudes to development. We believe in better demonstrating the impact of international development spending to the public, and are committed to efforts to help do that. It’s critical to show more clearly the connection between investment in science and research and how this will help to address the impacts of global development challenges.
To achieve this we will need evidence; and we do have this already. For example, the international research partnerships that ODA invests in, help support low-income countries to raise more tax revenue to invest in public services, improve food security, tackle emerging public health threats and improve effectiveness of humanitarian responses, to name just a few impacts.
It’s vital that the government does not lose sight of these goals and the need for the UK to contribute towards tackling complex international challenges. Investment in science and research is vital, and so is joining the dots between the value of this support, and its positive impact on achieving development goals.