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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the supply chain for the creation of air and ground source heat pumps is located in the UK, rather than abroad.

Our plans to scale up heat pump deployment provide a huge opportunity to expand the UK heat pump manufacturing base and exploit future export potential. Published last year, our Heat Pump Manufacturing Supply Chain Research Project indicated that the heat pump market could be worth £5.5 billion to the UK economy by 2035.

In order to help accelerate investment in UK heat pump manufacturing capability and capacity, we are setting clear long-term policy through our forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy. The Government is also providing cross-sector fiscal support, including expanded export finance facilities, funding to support training in low-carbon technologies and manufacturing through the National Skills Fund, and a 130 per cent super-deduction capital allowance on qualifying plant and machinery investments. In addition, officials in BEIS, together with colleagues from the Department for International Trade, are working closely with heating appliance manufacturers to provide business investment support.

UK-based heat pump manufacturers – like Mitsubishi Electric, Kensa, Clade Engineering Systems, Star Renewable Energy, Global Energy Systems, Big Magic International – are investing to meet growing demand in the UK and internationally, and Vaillant recently announced plans to expand their UK boiler manufacturing facility in Belper, Derbyshire, to produce heat pumps from 2022. This demonstrates that the UK is an attractive place to invest and to do business.