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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage companies to purchase from UK companies which have developed products through programmes funded from the public purse.

The objective of Government support for business is to put the United Kingdom in a strong position for the future, promoting a diversity of businesses and industrial sectors, as well as ensuring the benefits of growth are shared across cities and regions up and down the country.

The Government regularly showcases the best that British business has to offer, for example through its GREAT Britain campaign, which aims to inspire the world and encourage people to do business with manufacturers in the UK. On 21 April we announced the winners of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise; 176 businesses from across the UK have been recognised for their contribution to international trade, innovation, sustainable development and this year’s new award, promoting opportunity. Some of these companies have previously benefitted from public funding, thus demonstrating the real benefits to businesses and society that can be derived from properly-targeted Government support.