Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what criteria were used to determine eligible activities under the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme; and what assessment has he made of whether brewing should be recognised as an eligible activity.

The British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme is targeted at sectors where it will have the greatest impact on growth, focusing on Industrial Strategy priority sectors, manufacturing activities that are mobile and exposed to international competition, and those with high electricity intensity.

Eligibility will be determined using Standard Industrial Classification codes to assess whether a business operates in an eligible sector that meets the required threshold of electricity intensity, and Harmonised System codes to assess whether it manufactures eligible products.

The Government has not made a specific assessment of brewing as an eligible activity; eligibility depends on whether activities meet the published criteria.