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 potential merits of supporting the scrappage of older civil aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

We recently received an industry proposal on a scrappage scheme for older civil large passenger aircraft and are assessing its potential impact on the UK aerospace and aviation industries.

UK airlines and aerospace manufacturers have already been boosted by £2.16 billion from the Covid Corporate Financing Facility. In addition, UK Export Finance expects to provide £3.5 billion of support for UK aerospace exports over the next 18 months. We also continue to invest heavily in technology to make our aviation sector greener and more sustainable, through our co-funded £3.9 billion Aerospace Technology Institute programme and £300 million Future Flight Challenge.