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 ensure that proceeds from the sale of the Green Investment Bank disposal assets are reinvested in the UK after the privatisation of that bank.

The Government has set out its plans for the sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) in the document “Green Investment Bank: sale of shares” laid before Parliament on 3 March 2016.

As stated in that document, the Government has asked potential investors to confirm their commitment to GIB’s green values and investment principles and how they propose to protect them, as part of their bids for the company.

Moving GIB into private ownership will enable the bank to have greater access to capital and be free of the constraints of Government ownership including State aid restrictions. This means GIB will be able to play more of a role in supporting green investment.