Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of foreign direct investment screening mechanisms on UK economic sovereignty.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK balances an open investment environment to facilitate growth while protecting the areas of our economy that are the most sensitive to national security. The National Security and Investment Act supports our economic sovereignty by giving us power to intervene where we need to, while allowing the vast majority of inward investment to proceed.
The NSI Act was inspired by, and brought the UK’s approach to investment screening in line with, many other countries, including our close allies. The Act is a product of close international cooperation to ensure the UK’s investment screening regime draws on global best practice.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to promote exports from (a) defence and (b) aerospace manufacturers.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
DBT works with defence and aerospace companies to open markets, tackle trade disputes, provide SME support, and connect business to export opportunities.
Through the Aerospace Growth Partnership and Aerospace Technology Institute programme we support industry to increase supply chain productivity, competitiveness, innovation and exports. In defence, we work with industry to develop campaigns which pursue a ten-year pipeline of global opportunities. In 2023 the UK won £14.5bn defence orders; and in 2024 exported £23bn of domestically produced aerospace goods.
The Industrial Strategy will set out our further support for these sectors.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help improve the representation of women in senior leadership positions within large (a) public and (b) private companies.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Promoting equal opportunities for women is a key part of this Government's Plan for Change, ensuring fair access to the best jobs. To that end, the Department for Business and Trade sponsors the FTSE Women Leaders Review, which collaborates with the UK's top public and private companies to achieve at least 40% representation of women on boards and at senior management levels.
The 2025 report evidences real progress in representation of women leaders across the top of UK businesses. The Government will continue to work with UK business and the Review to ensure the continuation of this promising momentum.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how the Office for Investment will assess the potential impact of foreign direct investment on domestic businesses in key sectors.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Investment is at the heart of the government’s growth mission, increasing the number of good, well-skilled jobs and improving productivity across the country. Foreign direct investment is one part of this and can support domestic businesses directly through supply chains and indirectly through spillover benefits. The new Office for Investment will work closely with all businesses to increase facilitation of investment from UK and overseas businesses.
Previous research in 2021 by DBT found that on average a £1 million FDI project into Great Britain leads to a net increase in national levels of GVA of around £98,000 and a net increase in employment.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many jobs were created in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire as a result of foreign direct investment in the last year.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Official Statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbt-inward-investment-results-2023-to-2024 show 13 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects landed in Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in 2023-24. This includes single site and multiple site projects. It was not possible to publish the number of new jobs created due to confidentiality issues. Statistics are not published at Local Authority level due to confidentiality concerns, but Milton Keynes is within South East Midlands LEP where 38 FDI projects landed and 3,010 jobs were created in 2023-24. The estimated economic impact of FDI projects is only published at a UK level.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how the Office for Investment plans to engage with local authorities and combined authorities to (a) identify and (b) promote investment opportunities.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We work with local and combined authorities to promote the most significant investment opportunities, by providing compelling products for use by the department’s UK and international teams.
With the expanded Office for Investment, we will build further on this approach, working in partnership, to turn the Industrial Strategy and regional growth plans into a clear, commercially attractive pipeline of investment opportunities. We are piloting an enhanced way of supporting transformational local projects, connecting them with specialist support or expertise from across government to develop opportunities at scale and with commercial credibility to pull in large scale investment.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the estimated economic impact of foreign direct investment projects in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire has been in the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Official Statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbt-inward-investment-results-2023-to-2024 show 13 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects landed in Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in 2023-24. This includes single site and multiple site projects. It was not possible to publish the number of new jobs created due to confidentiality issues. Statistics are not published at Local Authority level due to confidentiality concerns, but Milton Keynes is within South East Midlands LEP where 38 FDI projects landed and 3,010 jobs were created in 2023-24. The estimated economic impact of FDI projects is only published at a UK level.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help encourage (a) women and (b) people from ethnic minorities to found start-up companies.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This government is working to advance equality of access to start-up opportunities irrespective of gender or race. Everyone who can and wants to set up a small business should have access to support to do so, whether through direct government support or through programmes delivered by mayors and other institutions. Ensuring this support can be accessed by all is key to the government’s mission to secure economic growth and boost productivity throughout the UK. All businesses can access support via, Help to Grow Management, Growth Hubs, and the British Business Bank.
The government’s Start Up Loans programme provides finance and mentoring support to founders, with 40% of loans going to women and 21% to people from ethnic minorities.
The government-backed and industry-led Invest in Women Taskforce is working to make entrepreneurship more accessible to women, so that 30% of all businesses are female-powered by 2030.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Office for Investment has taken to build and strengthen international partnerships that promote inward investment to the UK.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s international investment partnerships will be crucial for driving economic growth in the UK. The Office for Investment continues to work with teams in the Department for Business and Trade and other departments across government to amplify opportunities for collaboration and the pursuit of shared goals through these partnerships, where stability, predictability, and trust are key. The International Investment Summit on 14 October will be a significant next step to deliver this message to our existing and potential new partners.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Office for Investment is taking in response to global economic trends to maintain the attractiveness of the UK as an investment destination.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
To respond to global economic trends and increasing competition for future industries, the Government has announced a set of first steps to improve the UK’s attractiveness as an investment destination, including through driving planning reform and launching our new National Wealth Fund and GB Energy. The Office for Investment (OfI) helps to improve the competitiveness of the UK’s overall offer for investors through focused support for the most globally mobile investment projects.