Freedom of information (FOI) releases from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

This is a disclosure log of UK Research and Innovation's responses to freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) requests that might be of wider public interest.

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1,308 disclosures

  1. FOI2025/00453: Information on UKRI employees

    Request received: 28 April 2025

    Please could we request the following under the Freedom of Information Act:

    1. Suspension Patterns and Characteristics

    Please provide a breakdown of all UKRI employees suspended from 1 January 2022 to the present date. For each case, please include:

    • Band level or equivalent grade

    • Gender

    • Whether the individual had a recorded disability or adjustment need - Length of suspension

    • Whether the suspension followed a whistleblowing report

    • Whether the process resulted in disciplinary action or no case to answer

    2. Overlapping Grievance and Disciplinary Investigations

    How many employee grievance cases raised between 1 January 2021 and the present were handled concurrently with disciplinary or whistleblowing investigations? For each case, please indicate:

    • Whether the grievance or disciplinary process was paused or prioritised

    • Whether the grievance involved allegations of discrimination, bullying, or harassment

    • Outcome of each process (if known)

    3. Application of the Whistleblowing Policy

    Please provide:

    • The number of complaints handled under the UKRI Whistleblowing Policy since 1 January 2021

    • How many of those complaints related to staff conduct or interpersonal conflict (e.g. bullying or harassment)

    • How many were made anonymously

    • How many resulted in suspension of the individual subject to the complaint and if so, whether their suspension was in whole or in part of their duties and their gender?

    4. Neurodiversity and Disability Support Framework

    Please provide copies of all policies, internal guidance, or training materials used by UKRI between 2020 and 2025 relating to:

    • Support for neurodivergent employees (including ADHD)

    • Implementation of reasonable adjustments

    • Managerial training or expectations around disability inclusion

    5. Innovate UK and IUK Business Connect Staff Surveys & Verbatim Feedback (2021–Present)

    Please provide the following in relation to employee feedback, leadership culture, and workplace experience, with responses clearly disaggregated for:

    • Innovate UK employees

    • IUK Business Connect employees

    a. Copies or summaries of any staff surveys, engagement surveys, or pulse check surveys conducted at either Innovate UK or IUK Business Connect between 1 January 2021 and the current date.

    b. Any free-text responses or anonymised verbatim comments submitted by staff in either organisation during those surveys, specifically those referencing:

    • Senior leadership or executive team behaviour

    • Organisational culture, psychological safety, or employee voice

    • Bullying, exclusion, or fear of retaliation

    • Trust in HR, grievance or whistleblowing processes

    • Mental health, burnout, or wellbeing concerns

    c. Any internal reports, dashboards, PowerPoint presentations, or summaries prepared by or for UKRI, Innovate UK, or IUK Business Connect leadership or HR interpreting the above data (e.g. trends, themes, or risks flagged).

    6. Suspension – Internal Guidance

    Please provide any internal HR or legal guidance documents circulated between 2021 and 2025 that explain:

    • The standard process (and safeguards) for suspending an employee under the Managing Performance and Conduct Policy

    • How suspension is communicated internally

    • The treatment of governance roles or public-facing duties during suspension.

    (Question 7 was withdrawn on 17 June 2025 following clarification discussions)

    Published: 18 November 2025

  2. FOI2025/00754: UKRI spending by Equality Act characteristics

    Request received: 25 August 2025

    I am interested in your compliance with the Equality Act s.149 Public Sector Equality Duty. Equality Act 2010 The following characteristics are protected by the Equality Act:

    ·        Age

    ·        Disability

    ·        Gender reassignment

    ·        Marriage and civil partnership

    ·        Pregnancy and maternity

    ·        Race

    ·        religion or belief

    ·        Sex

    ·        Sexual orientation

     

    1.     Please can you tell me UKRI spending by each of these characteristics.

    a.     For age if you do not have your own age bands please use the legal age for a child at the lower end and the legal retirement age (either 55 or 66 your choice) at then upper end with ‘adults’ catering for age groups in between

    b.     Please also state funding by illness, if you were not already going to do that for disability.

    c.      Please break out race and religion

     

    2.     Please state the earliest date that you have evidence that UKRI complies with the duty across all its funding and send me the evidence

     

    Clarification Received: 27 August 2025

    I am interested in funding spent on the ‘beneficiary’ of the grant. So here are a couple of examples:

    If you made a £500,000 grant to a mixed group of academics who were  researching ‘How to teach children how to use AI safely’ The beneficiary group would be ‘Age – sub group Children’ If you made a £1m grant to a black female academic who was researching the history of mosques in the UK. The beneficiary group would be ‘Religion – subgroup Moslem’

    If you made a £750,000 grant to an early career researcher who was researching prostate cancer. The beneficiary group would be ‘Disability – prostate cancer’ and “Age – Retirement age’ and ‘Sex – Male’.

    Within the protected characteristics you might have other designations. I am open-minded but looking at your past financial year would be fine be me.

    Please suggest something else if this is not possible.

    Please create a table with spending by the protected characteristics of the beneficiaries of your grant leading to UKRIs total grant making for the 2024/2025 year. If there is an amount of funding unaccounted for please explain.

    Published: 18 November 2025

  3. UKRI-4453 BAU Professional Services Framework

    Request received: 30 July 2025

    UKRI-4453 BAU Professional Services Framework

    ·        UK Research and Innovation

    UK4: Tender notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

    Notice identifier: 2025/S 000-035090

    Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-050a95

     

    I would wish to receive a full copy of the UKRI open procedure procurement document used on this public tender.

    Published: 17 November 2025

  4. FOI2025/00461: QQR Final Reports

    Request received: 01 May 2025

    I am writing to request access to the final reports of the Quinquennial Reviews (QQRs) conducted of any MRC Unit(s) assessed between 2022 and 2025. Specifically, I am requesting the following:

    (1) The final reports from each Quinquennial Review (QQR) conducted during the period from 2022 to 2025.

    (2) Any relevant annexes, appendices, or supplementary documents published alongside these reports.

    Published: 13 November 2025

  5. FOI2025/00873: Organophosphate Esters Report by David Rae IEH Toxicology Unit 1998

    Request Received: 1 October 2025

    Please can you provide me with the following information:

    1. The name of the official within the (then) Department of Health who requested the report on Organophosphorus Esters from the MRC, written by David Rae - MRC-IEH Toxicology Unit, published in 1998 as shown in the link below. http://www.iehconsulting.co.uk/IEH_Consulting/IEHCPubs/HumExpRiskAssess/sr5.pdf

    2. The name of the official from the (then) Department of Health who signed the contract for this report to be written.

    3. The name of the person within the MRC who was responsible for commissioning this report and who delegated it to David Rae - IEH Toxicology Unit, as well as the name of the person within the MRC who signed the contract. (Page 16) 'Organophosphorus Esters At the request of the Department of Health the Committee considered a draft report entitled "Organophosphorus Esters: A Review of Putative Neurotoxic Effects in Humans". This had been commissioned from the MRC Institute for Environment and Health and prepared by Dr David Ray of the MRC Toxicology Unit.' https://cot.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/cot/cotcomcoc1998.pdf

    Published: 29 October 2025

  6. FOI2025/00665: Base Salary and Allowance Data by Pay Grade

    Request Received: 22 July 2025

    1. Base Salary Data Please provide the number of UKRI employees earning above the minimum base salary for their respective pay grades as of 31 March 2025. I would like this data broken down by:

    • Each pay band within the main UKRI pay scale

    • The S2 and S1 senior pay bands

    • Equivalent bands on the Innovate UK pay scale

    • Equivalent bands on the MRC (Medical Research Council) pay scale

    For each pay band or grade, please indicate:

    • The total number of employees in the band

    • The number of employees in the band earning above the minimum base salary (excluding any bonuses, location weighting, market supplements, or other allowances)

    2. Allowances Separately, please provide the number of employees across UKRI (and its constituent councils and bodies) who currently receive any form of additional pay in the form of:

    • Allowances (e.g., London weighting, on-call, shift, or other recurring or non-recurring allowances)

    • Market supplements

    • Bonuses or performance-related payments (including non-consolidated payments that are paid as part of the pay award process)

    If possible, please break this down by type of allowance and by organisation (e.g., Research Councils, Innovate UK, etc.).

    Published: 28 October 2025

  7. FOI2025/00705: UCL “Condenser for Social Sciences / SSRC Communications

    Request Received: 1 August 2025

    Clarified on: 12 September 2025

     

    1.     Internal UKRI communications (from 1st November 2023 to present) – including emails, attachments, timelines, and meeting records – which relate to:

    a)     The UCL “Condenser” or “SSRC” digital research infrastructure platform, funded under UKRI RCIF or related programmes;

    b)     Any complaint, escalation, or internal discussion involving whistleblowing, protected disclosures, research misconduct, or delivery concerns connected to that platform;

    c)     The use or obstruction of Subject Access Requests (SARs), FOI responses, or governance processes relating to information access or reputational management;

    d)     Legal, reputational, or regulatory risk assessments conducted by UKRI Legal, Communications, Assurance, Infrastructure or Counter Fraud teams in connection with this matter;

    e)     Anticipated media, litigation or Parliamentary exposure arising from concerns or complaints related to the platform. 2. External communications (from 1st November 2023 to present) between UKRI and:~

    a)     University College London (UCL), including UCL ARC (Advanced Research Computing), UCL Legal Services, UCL HR, or Faculty governance personnel;

    b)     Regulators such as National Audit Office (NAO), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Office for Students (OfS) or Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT);

    c)     Any third party referencing whistleblowing activity, research integrity risks, or legal retaliation connected to UCL’s digital infrastructure platforms.

    Please interpret “communications” broadly to include:

    ·       Internal and external emails (including CC and BCC recipients),

    ·       Teams chats or briefings,

    ·       Attached documents, timelines, or case logs,

    ·       Meeting notes, risk registers, and fraud escalation summaries.

    If this request exceeds the statutory cost limit, please advise how it may be narrowed while remaining in scope.

    Published: 24 October 2025

  8. FOI2025/00722: AI Infrastructure

    Request Received: 12 August 2025

    1) Since Jan 2023, how much has been spent on physical AI infrastructure such as data centers?

    2) Since Jan 2023, how much has been spent on AI infrastructure?

    3) How much has been spent on software related to AI infrastructure or to support AI development?

    4) What proportion of total AI infrastructure investment has gone to software tooling?

    5) What funding has been committed specifically for agentic AI testing environments?

    6) How many AI developer upskilling programs have been funded since Jan 2024?

    7) How many grants or contracts have been awarded to software-based AI infrastructure since Jan 2024?

    8) How many grants or contracts have been awarded to physical-based AI infrastructure since Jan 2024?

    9) Estimated cost of AI Infrastructure for 2025?

    To confirm, we’re interested in the AI Infrastructure of UKRI itself. All questions should be viewed through that lens.

    Published: 20 October 2025

  9. FOI2025/00699: Future Leaders Fellowship Round 9

    Request Received: 4 August 2025

    Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I formally request the following information held by UKRI in relation to the Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) scheme Round 9:

    1) Any records explaining the delay in providing the promised feedback

    2) Total number of people that applied, that reached the interview stage, and that were actually awarded FLF grants

    Published: 15 October 2025

  10. FOI2025/00703: Future Leaders Fellowship Round 9

    Request Received: 4 August 2025

    I am writing to formally request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to the Future Leaders Fellowship scheme Round 9:

    The scoring thresholds and definitions used to determine Band A versus Band B at the final moderation stage.

    Published: 15 October 2025