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

To ask His Majesty's Government what lessons they have learned from the collapse of Britishvolt; and what assessment they have made of the consequences for battery manufacturing in the UK.

As part of our efforts to see British companies succeed in the industry, we offered significant support through the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF). Full due diligence was completed before a final grant offer letter was awarded to Britishvolt.

Funding was designed so that agreed milestones had to be achieved for the company to drawdown any funds.  These milestones were not met and therefore no ATF funds were paid to Britishvolt.

We want to ensure the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing as we transition to electric vehicles. That includes investing record sums in battery R&D – such as the recent announcement of £211 million into the Faraday Battery Challenge, which will help deliver 100,000 jobs in battery gigafactories and the battery supply chain by 2040.