Lord Willetts' declared outside interests
Published 2 May 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
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1. Appointments
Lord Willetts currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology:
| Role | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|
| Chair of the UK Space Agency Board | 26 April 2022 | Ongoing |
2. Register of interests
2.1 Personal interests
Lord Willetts has no related party interests to declare.
2.2 Financial interests
Lord Willetts has agreed several mitigation measures related to his financial interests with the department’s Permanent Secretary upon his appointment.
Shares and Securities:
- Marchmount Executive Services Limited (100 per cent owner)
- Vantix Diagnostics Inc (formerly Vantix Limited)
- Sirius Constellation Limited (interest ceasing )
- SynBioVen Limited
2.3 Outside occupations
- Non-executive Director, The Biotech Growth Trust plc (role due to cease, July 2025)
- Non-executive Director, Tekcapital plc
- Non-executive Director, SatixFy Communications and its wholly-owned subsidiary SatixFy UK (role due to cease with agreed MDA acquisition of SatixFy)
- Chair, Gen IP (company assessing value of new technologies)
- Non executive director, Sirius Insight (interest ceasing )
- Strategic Adviser, HighTide (pharmaceutical company) (remunerated via contract with Thames Holdings Ltd)
- Member, Advisory Board of Open Classrooms (education technology) interest ceasing )
- President, The Resolution Foundation
- Visiting Professor, King’s College, London
- Occasional journalism
- Occasional lectures and presentations
- In receipt of royalties from writing books
2.4 Voluntary roles
Lord Willetts has declared several roles for which he is not remunerated.
- Member, Raspberry Pi Foundation (registered charity; computer science education)
- Board member, President’s Advisory Committee, Royal Society
- Member, Advisory Board, European Space Policy Institute
- Member of Council, University of Southampton (role due to cease July 2025)
- Co-Chair, Pontignano Conference
- Governor, Pensions Policy Institute
- Trustee, Booker Prize Foundation
- Chair, Foundation of Science and Technology
- Member, Cancer Research UK
- President, China Insight Foundation
2.5 Previous employment, appointment or other outside roles
- Director, Konigswinter Steering Committee (interest ceased 4 March 2024)
- Director, Synbiotek Holdings Limited (financial services) (non-trading) (interest ceased 4 March 2024)
- Non-executive Director, Darktrace Limited (interest ceased 1 October 2024)
- Member, Strategic Advisory Council, LifeArc (interest ceased 4 March 2024)
- Chair, Verditek plc (interest ceased 4 March 2024)
- Board Member, UK Research and Innovation (interest ceased November 2024)
- Adviser (advice given on projects which are candidates to invest in), Creator Fund (investing in PhD, academic and student founders building businesses out of university innovation) (interest ceased)
2.6 Business interests
Company directorships (including shareholdings):
- Director, Sirius Constellation Limited (interest ceasing)
- Director and sole owner, Marchmount Executive Services Limited
- Director, Thames Holdings Ltd
- Director and Co-chair, SynbioVen Limited (invests in synthetic biology companies)
2.7 Procurements
Lord Willetts has declared that Satixfy, where he serves as a Non-Executive Director, received funding from DSIT or its agencies in the past but has not received funding from DSIT since 2023.
Lord Willetts and the Permanent Secretary have agreed that Lord Willetts will report if the situation changes with Satixfy or any other company he is involved with.
2.8 Any other relevant interests
Lord Willetts is a Conservative Party Peer.
3. Mitigations
3.1 Chair of the Regulatory Innovation Office
The department’s Permanent Secretary and Lord Willetts have agreed the following mitigation measures to manage Lord Willetts’ potential conflicts of interest in his role as the Chair of the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO). It sets out an approach to identify, address and mitigate any actual, potential or perceived personal or business interests which may conflict, or may be perceived to conflict, with the Chair’s duties.
The principal requirements of this agreement were as follows:
1. That Lord Willetts will recuse himself from discussions and decisions related to his financial interests.
2. That the Department will maintain a record of Lord Willetts’ meetings arranged to support the work of the Regulatory Innovation Office and will publish updates on his activities in accordance with the terms of reference of his appointment.
3. That Lord Willetts will not participate in any investment decisions for technology companies he is involved in, including Tekcapital and SynBioVen. He will recuse himself from discussions related to SynBioVen prospects and will step down from the investment committee for SynBioVen. He will recuse himself from discussions relating to the Biotech Growth Trust PLC, Marchmount Executive Services Limited, Thames Holdings Ltd, Tekcapital plc, SatixFy UK, Satixfy Communications Ltd, Gen IP, Sirius Insight, HighTide, and the Advisory Board of Open Classrooms. He will recuse himself from discussions relating to prospects at Biotech Growth Trust and Tekcapital. He will recuse himself from discussions with regulators and other government departments on a case-by-case basis, where he believes his financial interests may influence his judgement on specific regulatory policies.
4. That Lord Willetts will meet with officials quarterly to review the impact (if any) of his declared interests on his performance as RIO Chair, including his roles as Chair of the UK Space Agency Board and as a Conservative Party peer.