– in the Scottish Parliament at on 27 October 2016.
Gordon MacDonald
Scottish National Party
6. To ask the Scottish Government what the annual value is of European Union research programmes undertaken at universities in the Edinburgh area. (S5O-00266)
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
Our higher education institutions are active partners in a large number of EU research collaborations and have secured significant funding from EU research programmes, as a result. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the financial value of EU research programmes for specific institutions. However, we understand that universities in the Edinburgh area secured over £36 million in 2014-15 from various EU sources, including EU Government, charities, business and other sources.
Gordon MacDonald
Scottish National Party
The Royal Society’s report on the role of the EU in funding United Kingdom research identified that the UK was a net beneficiary from EU research and development funding to the tune of €3.4 billion in the period to 2013. Under current EU R and D funding, total spending is expected to be €120 billion in the period up to 2020 and it is anticipated that Scotland will win around €120 million a year in grants under the EU’s horizon 2020 research programme. However, that might now be under threat following the Brexit vote. What assurances have been given by the UK Government that our universities will be compensated for any loss of research revenue?
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
The UK Chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond, provided a guarantee on 13 August that horizon 2020 research funding that is granted before we leave the EU will be guaranteed by the Treasury after we leave. I welcome the UK Government guarantee on European funding, including horizon 2020 funding, as far as it goes. I say that because it does not take into account the anecdotal feedback that we are already receiving from higher education institutions about collaborations and the Scottish research impact, with people being told to take a step back from research projects. It also does not take into account any of the future framework programmes that will happen in the EU, which we would have continued to receive benefit from, were we to stay in the European Union.
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