Science Minister Lord Patrick Vallance to address Lords Science and Technology Committee on key priorities

The session at 10.15am, lasting two hours, will see the cross-party committee ask Lord Vallance a range of questions covering both his general responsibilities as Science Minister and issues related to its inquiry into engineering biology. 

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has said that engineering biology is one of five key technologies for the UK. It defines engineering biology as the design, scaling and commercialisation of biology-derived products and services that can transform sectors or produce existing products more sustainably.  

Among the questions the committee is likely to ask are:  

Science policy: 

1. What are the Minister’s key priorities, what has he achieved to date and what does he hope to achieve in this role? 
   
   
2. Has the Government learned the lessons from COVID-19 and does it have a clear strategy to ensure the UK retains vaccine and therapeutics manufacturing  that are ready to scale up in the event of another pandemic threat?
   
   
3. How will DSIT coordinate action across Government on areas such as skills, procurement, and regulation, in line with the Science and Technology Framework? 
   
   
4. How will DSIT, and science and technology, feed into the Industrial Strategy and the Government’s Missions? 

Engineering biology 

5. Will the Government retain the National Vision for Engineering Biology, and what are the priorities for the sector? 
   
   
6. How will the Government ensure that we have sufficient skills and training to make the most of engineering biology in the UK? 
   
   
7. What is the Government’s plan to encourage wider adoption of engineering biology solutions in the economy?
   
   
8. What is the Government’s plan to ensure the UK has sufficient research infrastructure and facilities to enable the engineering biology sector to thrive?
   
   
9. What is the Government doing to encourage science and technology companies to scale-up in the UK, list here and get investment here?

The Lords committee is chaired by Baroness Brown. Its full membership is here.   

The Lords committee session will be available to watch live or on demand on Parliament TV or in person in Committee Room 4, Palace of Westminster. Details of how to attend are here