Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Modern Industrial Strategy applies equally to rural areas.

The Industrial Strategy focuses efforts on the city regions and clusters across the UK where the growth-driving sectors are concentrated, including in rural areas.

The Strategy introduces targeted measures in rural areas such as enhanced support for the Inverness and Cromarty Firth and Anglesey freeports specialising in Clean Energy Industries and a regional skills pilot to deliver clean power in Aberdeenshire, Lincolnshire and Pembrokeshire.

Alongside this, all regions and nations across the UK benefit from the Industrial Strategy’s national policy offer, which addresses the biggest constraints to growth highlighted by businesses.