Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the adequacy of levels of capital available to start-up manufacturing companies.

Though our industrial Strategy we are committed to making the UK the best place in Europe to start and grow a manufacturing business. That includes using our record investments in infrastructure to unlock growth in every part of the country; using the major new investment in research to support innovative manufacturing businesses across the country; and encouraging inward investment.

We are ranked in the top 10 in the world for ease of doing business by the World Bank and amongst the very best in Europe, and we are the number one destination for foreign direct investment in Europe.

We will improve access to finance across the country and back institutions which can catalyse growth and private sector equity investment:

• British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £5.2bn of finance to more than 74,000 smaller businesses (as at March 2018), including through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund
• And we are now taking action to unlock over £20 billion of Patient Capital Investment for growing firms over the next 10 years.
• We will improve wider support for scale-ups and entrepreneurs by building up networks, using government data in a smarter way, launching a review into entrepreneurship, and supporting the industry-led Be the Business campaign with up to £13 million over three years to provide practical tools to businesses to improve productivity.