Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to prevent declines in manufacturing output.

Last year this government published our 10-year Modern Industrial Strategy, setting out our long-term approach to strengthening domestic capability. Alongside it, Government published the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan, which outlines both sector-specific and cross-cutting measures – including on energy, skills, innovation, tech adoption and access to finance - to make the UK the best place to start and grow a manufacturing business. Through this plan, Government committed £4.3 billion to support manufacturers over 5 years, including up to £2.8 billion for R&D alone, alongside £4 billion in funding available from the British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital and £27.8 billion available from the National Wealth Fund to help manufacturing business access the finance they need to expand.