Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with the Mayor of the West Midlands on the resilience of supply chains in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In recent interactions the Secretary of State discussed with the West Midlands Mayor the importance of improving the resilience of supply chains in the region and our goal to do so through the Industrial Strategy. A Supply Chain Centre, based in DBT, will lead the government's work to build the resilience of critical supply chains and our £2.5bn DRIVE35 programme will support Zero Emission Vehicle manufacturing and its supply chain.
DBT's Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan also sets out to strengthen UK capabilities and secure more diverse import resources, ensuring better connected and agile supply chains.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 27 Oct 2025 to Question 83835, if he will publish a list of (a) businesses and (b) sectors in Walsall Borough with whom they consulted.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government consulted a wide range of businesses from across the UK during the development of the Industrial Strategy, through roundtables, workshops, and direct conversations with businesses, business representation organisations, and networks.
This included the Invest 2035 public consultation which sought feedback on 36 questions to inform the Industrial Strategy. The consultation received over 27,000 online answers to individual questions from a wide range of businesses and organisations, including more than 250 business associations representing hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK.
We cannot publish a list of businesses and sectors in Walsall Borough with whom we consulted, as no data was systematically collected on respondents’ geographic location. Additionally, to maintain respondents’ confidentiality we cannot share the names of individual respondents or the details of individual responses to the consultation.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 68454 on Manufacturing Industries: West Midlands, which SME sectors in the West Midlands were consulted during the development of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of Invest 2035 the Department issued a public consultation asking for feedback on 36 questions to inform the Industrial Strategy. The consultation received over 27,000 online answers to individual questions from a wide range of businesses and organisations, including more than 250 business associations representing hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK.
In the West Midlands input was sought from businesses across a wide range of sectors, including all eight growth driving sectors. We engaged with organisations representing business interests across sectors, including the Combined Authority, Midlands Engine Partnership, local business representation organisations, and regional networks such as the export champions. Additionally, we met directly with representatives from businesses in the growth driving sectors in the region to give them an opportunity to feed into the development of the strategy.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025, published on 23 June 2025, if he will provide a breakdown of where he plans for the 41,000 new homes in the West Midlands to be built; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on this matter.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
In setting out how the Government will strengthen connections between and within city regions and clusters, the Industrial Strategy confirmed our commitment to delivering and maximising the growth benefits of HS2. The Industrial Strategy referenced independent research by Arcadis, conducted on behalf of HS2 Ltd, that suggests HS2 could lead to 41,000 new homes in the West Midlands. The source can be found at https://www.arcadis.com/en-gb/projects/europe/united-kingdom/hs2-impact-study.
The department has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government during the development of the Industrial Strategy and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions he has had with businesses on the S&P Global Flash UK PMI.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Details of the meetings held by Ministers of the Department for Business and Trade are available on transparency pages of gov.uk and are released as part of the Government’s transparency agenda.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he made of the potential impact of delaying the implementation of the Employment Rights Bill’s provisions on unfair dismissal protections on levels of business confidence.
Answered by Justin Madders
There is no delay to implementation. On 1 July the Government published “Implementing the Employment Rights Bill: Roadmap”. It provides clarity for employers and workers on when Government will consult on the implementation of Bill measures, and when measures will take effect. Feedback from businesses is that this clarity has improved confidence. The Roadmap sets out our initial view that day one unfair dismissal protections will take effect in 2027, after regulations have been made and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has considered to what extent , to reflect day one rights in the Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of energy costs on energy intensive industries.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Government is well aware of the issue of high industrial energy costs, and the challenges that poses for Energy Intensive Industries (EII). That is why we continue to offer support to electro-intensives through the EII compensation scheme and the Supercharger.
We will also soon be consulting on an uplift of the Network Charges Compensation scheme.
The recent Industrial Strategy also committed to consulting on the establishment of a new support scheme, British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) which will exempt up to 7,000 businesses from some of policy costs included within electricity bills.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 help reduce industrial electricity prices.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Government is well aware of the issue of high industrial energy costs, and the challenges that poses for Energy Intensive Industries (EII). That is why we continue to offer support to electro-intensives through the EII compensation scheme and the Supercharger.
We will also soon be consulting on an uplift of the Network Charges Compensation scheme.
The recent Industrial Strategy also committed to consulting on the establishment of a new support scheme, British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) which will exempt up to 7,000 businesses from some of policy costs included within electricity bills.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to p.12 of The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025 published on 23 June 2025, on what evidential basis his Department determined which business sectors have high potential.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Invest 2035 (published on GOV.UK in October 2024) identified 8 high-level 'growth driving' sectors (the IS-8): Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Professional and Business Services. Pages 18-20 of the Invest 2035 green paper outline the methodology for identifying the IS-8 sectors.
The Technical Annex of the Modern Industrial Strategy 2025 (published on GOV.UK in June 2025) outlines the methodology for identifying the frontier industries within the IS-8 sectors.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he had with the Mayor of the West Midlands during the development of The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025, published on 23 June 2025.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government is committed to working in partnership with Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) as part of delivering the Industrial Strategy's regional growth objective. We have engaged regularly with the West Midlands Combined Authority, at official and Mayoral level, to reflect and support its significant strengths in the Industrial Strategy and to coordinate local and national policies ahead of the publication of the West Midlands' forthcoming Local Growth Plan.
Regular engagement at Ministerial and official level will continue as we implement the Industrial Strategy, including the delivery of Sector Plans, which the government has committed to implement in partnership with MSAs.