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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how the UK manufacturing sector fits into the future of innovation in the (a) Plan for Growth and (b) upcoming Innovation Strategy.

The Government is, and will continue to be, a champion of the needs of business and industry, including the UK manufacturing sector. This is why Build Back Better: plan for growth and its supporting strategies will put the UK at the forefront of opportunities, give businesses the confidence to invest, boost productivity across the UK, enable our green industrial revolution, and support our vision for Global Britain.

As announced in the Plan for Growth, published alongside Budget, the Department is engaging across Government to develop an Innovation Strategy. As well as working across Whitehall and with our Innovation Expert Group, we want to engage with the innovation community, including the manufacturing sector which accounts for 64% of all business expenditure on UK R&D, to ensure the evidence base is sound and the policy proposals in the Strategy are well developed.