Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of lithium resources available (a) in the UK, (a) in deposits in Cornwall and (b) from recycling on supply chain resilience.

As part of the Critical Minerals Strategy, we are committed to exploring the UK’s geological potential for critical minerals (including lithium) as reflected by the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre’s (CMIC) report published on 17 April, “Potential for Critical Raw Material Prospectivity in the UK.” It is a preliminary assessment, and the Government is working with the British Geological Survey to understand next steps.

In the case of minerals for electrical vehicle batteries, end-of-life recycling is expected to provide less than 1% of UK demand in 2030. However, by 2040, recycling is expected to account for 10-20% of battery mineral demand for electrical vehicles.

To promote recycling and recovery, the Government is funding the £30 million National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme, and UKRI has launched the Circular Critical Materials Supply Chains (CLIMATES) fund, with an initial £15 million to bolster UK rare earth element supply chain resilience.