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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the (a) financial and (b) logistical support available to small and medium-sized enterprises involved in the development of net-zero technologies.

Small and medium-sized businesses have a vital role in developing the technologies needed to deliver net zero. There is a wide range of financial and logistical support available to aid them in doing so.

The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, a £1 billion fund announced in my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, aims to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies, systems and business models in power, buildings, and industry. Funding is available for projects across the UK for companies of all sizes. Within the portfolio, the ‘Energy Entrepreneurs Fund’ particularly aims to assist small and medium sized enterprises, including start-ups. Those companies that are selected will receive acceleration support.

More widely, Innovate UK (IUK) acts as the prime channel through which the Government incentivises business-led technology innovation. Its role is to fund business-led innovation through the allocation of competitively awarded grants, delivered through competitions. Through their Knowledge Transfer Network and Innovate UK EDGE, IUK help connect innovative businesses with the right partners, expertise, facilities, financiers and influencers to help them bring their ideas to market, grow and scale their companies, and build collaborations, partnerships and supply chains.

In addition, the Government established a network of Catapult Centres in 2011 to commercialise new and emerging technologies in areas where there are large global market opportunities and a critical mass of UK capability to take advantage of them. There are nine Catapults, across 40 locations throughout the UK, supporting a broad range of technologies. The Catapult Centres have supported in excess of 8000 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Between 2014 and the third quarter of 2020 a total of £160m has been invested into clean technology businesses by equity funds backed by the British Business Bank. The Bank crowds in additional private sector capital to support equity investment for small and medium sized enterprises, maximising the impact of government investment.