British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme

Earl Russell Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The noble Lord is right that there are many thriving and growing businesses, industries and sectors in the country. Not all of those are going to be covered by the BICS. In the eligibility consultation that we put out before this confirmation, that was one of the questions that we consulted on. We expanded the scope, from the beginning to the end of the consultation, from what we thought was going to be about 7,000 businesses to 10,000 businesses. The focus of the scheme is on the strategic manufacturing sector supporting frontier industries, as the noble Lord mentioned, and foundational manufacturing industries. We are looking carefully at supply chains—for example, fertiliser availability and cost—as we monitor the impact of the current situation in the Middle East.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her response. I pick up on a point that my noble friend made as part of her formal response to the Statement in relation to the retail energy market. The Minister may need to go away and think about it, and that may well be the answer. Does the Minister admit that there is scope for further action to make sure that the retail energy market is more competitive and that SMEs are able to secure good energy deals, there is competition in that market and they have access to the ombudsman scheme?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

The noble Earl has raised the question again and he is right to draw my attention to the fact that I did not address it the first time round. This scheme will be subject to the Subsidy Control Act and the necessary declarations. That detail is set out in the consultation paper that we published. On his specific question about the CMA and the retail energy market, I will revert to him.