[9] Aria is designed to operate with a large degree of autonomy and is exempt from Freedom of Information requests.

In March 2021 Labour Party Member of Parliament Dawn Butler said this would "raise alarm bells" about how taxpayer money is spent, in light of a scandal over how the UK government procured PPE contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kwasi Kwarteng, who was Business Secretary at the time, insisted the "corporate governance arrangements are very robust" and that MPs would be able to scrutinise the agency's accounts.

[10] On 20 July 2022, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced that ARIA's first CEO would be Ilan Gur and its first Chair would be Matt Clifford.

[11] In early 2023, it was announced that Nobel prize-winning organic chemist Chemistry Sir David MacMillan and Dame Kate Bingham entrepreneur who headed the successful Vaccine Taskforce, would join the board, advancing the high-risk/high-reward research agenda.