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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of companies in the UK which can carry out sourcing and forming operations for various critical metals.

The UK has a strong mining and engineering sector, world-leading R&D and pockets of mineral wealth. We have minerals expertise, including industrial clusters across the UK, and Europe’s leading mining school. The City of London is a global centre of mining finance, standards, and metals trading.

The Critical Minerals Strategy includes ambitions to maximise what the UK can produce domestically, where viable for businesses and where it works for communities and our natural environment. We are undertaking a national critical mineral resource assessment and have mechanisms to boost our capabilities, such as the Automotive Transformation Fund.

We are also seeking to support UK companies operating around the world to participate in building responsible and diversified global supply chains.