Policy paper

Pro-Innovation Regulation of Technologies Project: Terms of Reference

Published 18 December 2022

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

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Context and ambition

The Chancellor announced in the Autumn Statement 2022 that:

“The government will also task the Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) and National Technology Adviser (NTA), Sir Patrick Vallance to lead work to consider how the UK can better regulate emerging technologies, enabling their rapid and safe introduction.”

Pro-innovation regulation focuses on ensuring that we can safely and ethically accelerate the development, testing, route to market and uptake of new technology products. It should give confidence to innovators. This is key to making the UK an attractive destination for R&D projects, manufacturing and investment, and ensuring we can realise the economic and social benefits of new technologies as quickly as possible.

The UK should be on the front foot in shaping the evolution of regulation and standards in key growth sectors. This will help to encourage innovation and influence the evolution of international regulatory frameworks to give us economic and security advantage.

This project will identify opportunities and enablers for pro-innovation regulation of science and tech sectors with high potential to attract investment and enable growth of UK-based businesses and the economy. It will focus on specific actions that can be taken.

Scope and products

The project will focus on growth sectors that the Chancellor identified in the Autumn Statement. This will include digital technology, life sciences and green industries.

Further work, building on that led by Sir Patrick Vallance, will follow on advanced manufacturing and creative industries.

Governance and resourcing

Governance will operate at several levels.

  1. Ministers. The project will report to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, alongside regular updates to Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Secretaries of State to review progress and shape emerging findings.

  2. The GCSA/NTA will lead the project and report to the Chancellor.

  3. Steering Group. Office for Science and Technology Strategy will chair a senior cross-Whitehall steering group on behalf of the GCSA/NTA, which will have executive oversight of the project’s progress.

  4. Industry experts. Experts will be appointed to convene wider industry input and challenge from innovators and regulators.

  5. External advice. The GCSA/NTA will also seek advice and input from experts in government, the regulatory community, the Council for Science and Technology, Regulatory Horizons Council, Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society and other industry and academic experts as necessary.

The day to day work will be driven by a virtual team that will coordinate work in the individual sector workstreams. It will own the cross-cutting and system issues and recommendations, and will oversee the drafting of the reports.

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