Sections · PESA departmental group
Science, Innovation and Technology
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and its bodies, including UK Research and Innovation. In 2025-26 the bodies in this section spent £15.5bn on services. £1.8bn of it (11.4%) can be followed to who received it, and at most 27.6% counting payees who are named but can't be identified yet.
- Reached an identified organisation
- Reached a recipient the publisher did not name
- Reached people, counted by benefit
- Reached staff (pay) or holders of government debt (interest), followed as one published total
- Named payee, not yet identified (may be another public body)
- Not followed
How far it is followed, and why the rest can't be
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: 8 of 12 months publishedmeasured
Payment records for 2025-26 cover 8 months: 2025-04, 2025-05, 2025-06, 2025-07, 2025-08, 2025-09, 2025-10, 2025-11.
- Payees probably public bodies, awaiting review£5.3bnmeasured
A proposed match names a public body for these payees, so this money was most likely passed on to another part of government, not spent here. Until a person reviews the match it is not counted as followed or as passed on.
- Below the publication threshold
Payments under £25,000 (central government and the NHS) or £500 (councils) are not published one by one. Some publishers list every payment anyway; most do not.
- Pay: followed to staff as one total£1.4bnmeasured
Wages are never published person by person, and must not be. The staff costs of the 8 bodies in this section, from HM Treasury's OSCAR database (2025-26, provisional outturn), are counted as followed to their staff.
Where the records come from
Each publisher's 2025-26 payment records, and where their money went. "Identified" means matched to a registered company, charity or other organisation outside government; "named only", a payee named in the record but not yet matched; "passed on", paid to another public body.
| Publisher | Months | Records | Identified | Named only | Withheld | Passed on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | 8 | 1,553 | £383m | £2.5bn | £0 | £7.6bn |
The largest payees not yet identified
Payees paid £5m or more. Named in the records as shown, but not yet matched to a registered organisation or a public body. Some may be public bodies; until they are matched they are counted as followed by name only.
| Payee, as published | 2025-26 |
|---|---|
| EUROPEAN COMMISSION | £2.1bn |
| UKRI - BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL | £415m |
| ROYAL MAIL GROUP LTD T/A ROYAL MAIL | £8m |
| OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (OFCOM) | £6m |
What PESA says this section spends on
| Function | 2025-26 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Economic affairs | £11.2bn | 72% |
| Education | £2.6bn | 17% |
| General public services | £565m | 4% |
| Recreation, culture and religion | £483m | 3% |
| Environment protection | £344m | 2% |
| Health | £234m | 2% |