Images: Chris McAndrew (left and centre) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons and Cubankite, via Shutterstock
Government refuses to say who decided which UK coronavirus projects received millions in public money
The government has refused to clarify how it decided to spend more than £126 million on two experimental vaccine projects at Oxford and Imperial while not funding other vaccine projects at Bristol and Nottingham.
This money dwarfs the £48.6 million that national funding agency, UK Research and Innovation has so far invested into more than 114 research projects responding to the Covid-19 pandemic through its two major calls.
But funding for the university-led projects at Oxford and Imperial did not go through the usual UKRI granting mechanisms and all the departments or bodies involved in Covid-19 response have declined to answer questions about what peer review—if any—was involved in the decisions. Other vaccine efforts, including one at a spinout from University of Bristol, and another one at University of Nottingham have had no government funding for their efforts.
Imperial College London and University of Oxford did not reply to a request for comment on the matter. But Robin Shattock, a professor at Imperial who leads its vaccine project, told The Times in April that “someone from Whitehall got in touch” and then health secretary Matt Hancock told him over the phone he “had the budget on his table and asked, ‘Should I sign this?’”
The mystery over exactly who approved the award of such large sums has been deepened by Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief aide, using vaccine funding as one of the reasons he needed to travel from Durham back to London, a journey that potentially broke lockdown rules.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said Cummings was not speaking on behalf of the government and directed questions on funding decision to BEIS and Department of Health and Social Care.
UKRI also confirmed that the money did not go through them, adding that “responsibility for the additional funding lies with DHSC [the Department of Health and Social Care] and BEIS” and that the questions on this funding would be best directed to those two departments.
DHSC said that “vaccine funding is led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy” and declined to comment further while BEIS declined to comment at all on how the funding came about and was approved, and whether there was any peer review involved.
Philip Duffy, chief scientific adviser to the treasury, told a House of Commons Science and Technology committee meeting on 5 June that the Treasury has a team dedicated to fast-tracking approval on Covid-19 vaccine investment that reports to him, but added that “we have not waived our normal approval processes”.
Asked about the approval process for the funding, the treasury directed questions on the matter to BEIS.
One thing that does appear clear is that the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies—headed by Chief Scientific Adviser, Patrick Vallance—did not recommend the funding. A spokesperson for Vallance’s Government Office for Science said “Sage did not discuss and they don’t advise on funding decisions”. They also referred further questions to BEIS.
Research Professional News understands that the Vaccine Taskforce, announced on 17 April and whose chair was announced on 18 May, will assess future vaccine proposals, together with BEIS’s board of experts, and will decide whether or not to commit funds based on scientific recommendation.
The Expert Advisory Board that advises the Vaccine Taskforce announced by BEIS alongside the second batch of funding on 17 May is chaired by the chief scientist Vallance, and includes leads of both of the funded projects, Robin Shattock, a professor at Imperial, and Sarah Gilbert of the University of Oxford.
Vaccine funding timeline
End of March/early April—Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief aide, drives back to London from Durham because, in his words, he “was involved in lots of things involving crucial questions of vaccines, trying to get scientists involved in the effort, trying to get money moved, trying to get regulation moved out of the way.”
17 April—Government announces ‘vaccine taskforce’ to oversee UK-based efforts.
21 April—Health secretary Matt Hancock announces that the government will give £22.5 million to the Imperial College vaccine project and £20 million to the University of Oxford project to support clinical trials.
17 May—A further £65.5 million is announced by Alok Sharma, secretary of state for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, for the Oxford vaccine and £18.5 million for the Imperial project.
A version of this article also appeared in Research Fortnight