Aviation and Manufacturing Industries: Coronavirus

(asked on 5th May 2020) - View Source

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the (1) aerospace, (2) aviation, and (3) automotive industries in the UK.


Answered by
Lord Callanan Portrait
Lord Callanan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This question was answered on 20th May 2020

We are supporting the aerospace industry through the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) with £1.95 billion of funding for research and development (R&D), matched by industry, over 13 years up to 2026. UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is also providing £125 million to the Future Flight Challenge for research on greener ways of flying through advances in electric and autonomous flight technology, which is expected to generate an additional £175 million of match-funding from industry. We are also co-investing in aerospace productivity improvement and innovation programmes to support small and medium-sized businesses backed with over £135 million of public funding.

In addition, aerospace companies are currently drawing upon the unprecedented £330 billion package of additional COVID-19 business support measures that the Government has put in place. We are in discussion with the sector, through the AGP, about how to best support the industry to recover.

Aviation is also an important sector for the UK’s economy, and businesses across the industry will also be able to draw on our package of economic measures. This includes a Bank of England scheme for firms to raise capital, two business interruption loan guarantee schemes for businesses of all sizes, Time to Pay flexibilities with tax bills, financial support for employees, and VAT deferrals.

If businesses across these sectors face severe and urgent financial difficulties due to COVID-19 following the Government’s cross-economy wage and financial interventions, we remain open to discussions about bespoke financial support as a last resort. Any intervention would need to protect the interests of taxpayers. Requests may be made formally, in writing, to the Business Secretary.

Furthermore, the Government has a long-standing programme of support to maintain the competitiveness of the UK automotive sector. Through our landmark Automotive Sector Deal, we have secured joint investment and long-term commitments to develop world-leading battery technologies, positioning the UK as the location of choice for the development and deployment of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies.

The Government, alongside industry, has jointly committed almost £1.5 billion through the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Faraday Battery Challenge to research, develop, and commercialise low-carbon automotive innovations. In October last year, we announced up to £1 billion of new money to support R&D to support electric vehicle manufacture.

Reticulating Splines