Government cuts spend on science, engineering and technology
The UK government spent £10 billion on science, engineering and technology (SET) in 2012, a 1% decrease compared with 2011, and continuing the downward trend in SET expenditure since 2009.
Reductions were driven by research councils, higher education funding councils and the Ministry of Defence.
UK research councils contributed the most to expenditure on SET in 2012 at £3.2bn, 32% of all expenditure on SET.
Between 2001 and 2012, defence expenditure on SET decreased by £1.2 billion in constant prices. This was offset by an increase in Research Councils' expenditure on SET of almost £1bn in the same period.
