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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply of Lord Callanan on 6 December (HL Deb, col 1635), whether the purchase of Newport Wafer Fab has been referred to the Competition and Merger Authority; and if so, what was the outcome.

My Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State has powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to intervene in mergers and takeovers on specified public interest grounds, including national security. Such an intervention would involve an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.