Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
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 (a) adequacy of safety standards of imported e-bikes from outside the EU and (b) implications for his policies of risks associated with non-EU lithium-ion batteries.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK product safety legislation requires manufacturers or importers placing products on the UK market, including e-bikes to ensure those products are safe. Those importing international products must ensure that they comply with UK product safety rules.
Earlier this year, OPSS banned certain models of Unit Power Pack-branded e-bike batteries manufactured in China, and they and local regulators have powers to prevent any unsafe goods identified from entering the UK at the border.
The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill will preserve the UK’s status as a global leader in product regulation, supporting businesses and protecting consumers.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to amend negotiating objectives in active free trade agreement negotiations.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Economic growth is the first priority of this government. To deliver on this, one of our first steps after taking office was to announce that we were resuming Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with: the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland, and Turkey.
Having carefully reviewed our negotiation objectives we have now started talks with some of these key partners. We will not sacrifice quality for speed and will only agree deals that are mutually beneficial.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what data her Department holds on the use of (a) arms and (b) non arms exports to Israel.
Answered by Greg Hands
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the value of arms exports to Israel was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Greg Hands
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department supports foreign investment in science and technology by region.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Investment is at the very heart of the UK economy - it supports economic growth, creates jobs and enables improvements in productivity for new and existing firms. It is also essential for successful delivery of the Government's objective to make the UK a science and technology superpower by 2030.
The Department for Business and Trade promotes a range of investment opportunities across the science & technology sector. DBT works to attract foreign corporates to the UK, developing compelling investment propositions for DBT's international network to bring to prospective investors, this includes both sector-wide and place-based opportunities. DBT has dedicated based staff across the UK who work with the DAs/their agencies, wider DBT teams, Office for Investment and other UK government departments to deliver investment in priority areas, including science and technology. DBT teams work closely with partners to deliver events to attract investment, such as the Northern Ireland Investment Summit that was held in Belfast, September 2023.
The UK has 13 new Investment Zones which will benefit from £160 million each of Government funding to unlock foreign investment across priority sectors, especially science and technology, with a focus on driving innovation and creating quality jobs. These will be new hubs for investment and innovation across the UK and the funding spread over 10 years, will be spent on fiscal incentives and/or flexible spend to support attracting FDI. In line with the government's levelling up objectives, they are established in places with significant unmet productivity potential, where existing strengths and assets aligned to priority sectors can be leveraged to increase opportunities for local communities. Investment Zones will be established in partnership between central government, local government, research institutions and the private sector. The Investment Opportunity Fund is intended to double down on the objectives of Freeports and Investment Zones by providing a flexible, agile pot of funding that government can use to secure and respond to opportunities in these areas as they emerge.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to promote the development of a domestic battery industry.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
We continue to work with industry via the Automotive Transformation Fund to support the creation of an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK, including gigafactories. With Government support, completion of AESC’s second Sunderland gigafactory and Tata-Agratas' £4bn gigafactory announcement will increase the UK’s committed battery capacity to over half of estimated 2030 demand.
We are also investing record sums in battery R&D through the Faraday Battery Challenge, to establish the UK as a battery science superpower, with £610m committed since 2017.
In November 2023, the Advanced Manufacturing Plan announced over £2bn of capital and R&D funding over five years to 2030, unlocking investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries and the wider supply chain. Alongside the AMP, we published a UK Battery Strategy, which outlined the Government’s vision for the UK to achieve a globally competitive battery supply chain by 2030 that supports economic prosperity and the net zero transition.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much the British Business Bank has invested directly in companies through its Future Fund: Breakthrough programme as of 28 November 2023.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Future Fund: Breakthrough is delivered by the British Business Bank, via its subsidiary British Patient Capital. It is a UK-wide programme which encourages private investors to co-invest alongside government in high-growth, R&D intensive, innovative firms.
From the start of the programme in 2021 to 28 November 2023, Future Fund: Breakthrough has committed to invest £119 million of which £97.6 million has been paid. Across these transactions, the programme has leveraged £724 million of investment from the private sector.
The government has announced an extension to Future Fund: Breakthrough of at least £50 million, building on the original commitment of £375m.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to page 34 of the National Space Strategy, published in September 2021, what steps her Department is taking to ensure robust controls on downstream activities that could potentially be used to support military operations of concern.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The UK seeks to prevent the proliferation of military and dual-use technologies that risk being misused in space through a robust system of export controls.
We rigorously assess every export licence application on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (the Criteria). We draw on all available information, including reports from NGOs and our overseas network, ensuring that UK exports are consistent with our national and international obligations and standards.
We will not grant an export licence where to do so would be inconsistent with the Criteria.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Prime Minister unveils £29.5 billion of investment at historic Global Investment Summit, published on 27 November 2023, how much and what proportion of the funding will be invested in each region of the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Global Investment Summit was a roaring success, unveiling £29.5 billion of investment, creating 12,000 jobs in some of the fastest-growing sectors of the UK, including data centres to support AI and life sciences.
Many of the projects announced are nationwide in their application so we cannot forecast regional spend of the combined investment total. We are working with investors to ensure the projects deliver the maximum economic benefit.
The investment announced on the day is a colossal vote of confidence in the UK and this government, and the benefits will be felt across the whole of the UK.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many times she has met officials from the Office for Life Sciences since 7 February 2023; and what correspondence she has had with the that organisation in the same time period.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has had no meetings with the Office of Life Sciences (OLS) since 7 February 2023 and there are no records of correspondence between the Secretary of State and the OLS for the same time period.