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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to assist the UK aerospace industry in the light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are supporting the aerospace industry through the Aerospace Growth Partnership, 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, the aerospace sector and its aviation customers are being supported with over £8.5 billion of support through the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility, grants for R&D, loan guarantees, and support for aerospace exports. We are in discussion with the sector, through the Aerospace Growth Partnership, about how to best support the industry to recover.