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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to help support the growth of the automotive sector in the West Midlands.

The Government has a longstanding and comprehensive programme of support for the UK automotive sector.

As part of the Net Zero Strategy, in October 2021, the Government announced a further £350m to be delivered through the Automotive Transformation Fund over the next three years to support development of an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain here in the UK. This is additional to the £500m announced as part of my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan in November 2020.

This will help to create thousands of well-paid green jobs in our industrial heartlands, including the West Midlands.