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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support the manufacturing sector in the UK.

Manufacturing is a bedrock of our country’s resilience and there is significant work underway to strengthen our industrial base, including substantial funding for projects in important sub-sectors such as aerospace, automotive and life sciences. Furthermore, we have committed over £150 million of taxpayer subsidy for Made Smarter, the national industrial digitalisation programme to help UK manufacturers to capitalise on new digital technologies.

Later this year we will launch the UK’s new manufacturing investment prospectus so we can promote the UK as the destination of choice for investment in manufacturing and help the sector make the most of what support is already available.