Life Sciences: Small Businesses
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's joint press release entitled UK life sciences attracts £3bn investment, creating jobs and faster patient treatments, published on 9 July 2026, what assessment he has made of the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises to investment secured under the Life Sciences Sector Plan.
Answered by Chris McDonald
The Department has not done a specific assessment of investment secured from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Life Sciences Sector Plan does however support SMEs through a suite of targeted interventions. The Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund remains open and its pipeline includes companies of varying sizes. The Scale-Up Support Service directly supports 10-20 high-potential companies and is open to companies of all sizes. We also offer dedicated export assistance to SMEs. UKRI and NIHR are set to substantially enhance their offerings for BioTech and MedTech SMEs and the British Business Bank continues to invest in life sciences SMEs.
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