Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the economic impact of deep sea mining in the period since 2015.

The Government commissioned an independent review from the British Geological Survey, the National Oceanography Centre and Heriot-Watt University. The terms of reference included a review of minerals contained in seafloor deposits and how this compares to terrestrial resources, with discussion on future resource potential and knowledge gaps. The review was published in October 2022 and is available here:

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/deep-sea-mining-evidence-review-published/