Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support access to finance for SMEs in the West Midlands.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that businesses across the UK, including in the West Midlands, can access the capital they need to grow. Through the British Business Bank (BBB), we are delivering a range of targeted interventions, including loan guarantee programmes and equity investment, designed to address regional funding gaps and unlock investment opportunities.
Businesses in the West Midlands already benefit from the £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II (MEIF). This fund is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses across the Midlands and enabling businesses that might otherwise not receive investment to access capital.
The BBB’s 2025 Impact Report estimates that their investments supported 2,200 West Midlands SMEs in 2024/25, and created 2,000 jobs. This follows the 10 June milestone of more than £100 million having been provided to West Midlands businesses as part of the Start Up Loans programme. The Bank also hosted a ‘Meet the Investor’ event in partnership with Tech UK in Birmingham in March to help connect SMEs with potential investors.
West Midlands businesses will also benefit from the recent Spending Review uplift, which increased the Bank’s total capacity to £25.6 billion. This uplift will enable the Bank to make annual investments of around £2.5 billion, supporting more high-growth and innovative UK businesses access finance across the UK.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 68454 on Manufacturing Industries: West Midlands, which SME sectors in the West Midlands were consulted during the development of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of Invest 2035 the Department issued a public consultation asking for feedback on 36 questions to inform the Industrial Strategy. The consultation received over 27,000 online answers to individual questions from a wide range of businesses and organisations, including more than 250 business associations representing hundreds of thousands of businesses across the UK.
In the West Midlands input was sought from businesses across a wide range of sectors, including all eight growth driving sectors. We engaged with organisations representing business interests across sectors, including the Combined Authority, Midlands Engine Partnership, local business representation organisations, and regional networks such as the export champions. Additionally, we met directly with representatives from businesses in the growth driving sectors in the region to give them an opportunity to feed into the development of the strategy.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase access to capital for businesses based in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that businesses across the UK, including in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire, can access the capital they need to grow. Working with the British Business Bank (BBB), we are delivering a range of targeted interventions, including through loan guarantee programmes and equity investments, designed to address regional funding gaps and unlock investment opportunities.
Businesses in Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme are already benefitting from the £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II (MEIF). It is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses across the Midlands and providing funds to businesses that might otherwise not receive investment and helping to break down barriers in access to finance.
In addition, as announced this week, the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme has now provided over £60 million in lending in the North East. The Bank will also host a ‘Meet the Investor’ event in partnership with Tech UK in Newcastle on 11 November to help connect SMEs with potential investors.
Businesses in these areas also benefit from national programmes such as the Regional Angels Programme, Future Fund: Breakthrough and British Patient Capital. The recent Spending Review increased the Bank’s total capacity to £25.6 billion, which supports a broad range of regional and growth programmes and will enable annual investments of around £2.5bn to support more high-growth and innovative UK SMEs up and down the UK.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025, published on 23 June 2025, which sectors in the West Midlands he consulted with during the development of the Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government engaged widely throughout the development of the Industrial Strategy, including with businesses, business representation organisations, and trade unions.
In the West Midlands, this included roundtables and discussions with businesses, engagement with the Midlands Engine Partnership, written consultation on our Green Paper Invest 2035 and close working with the West Midlands Mayoral Strategic Authority to understand the strengths and barriers to growth in the region. Additionally, the department's regionally based teams sought input from SME businesses across a range of sectors.
We will continue engaging widely throughout Industrial Strategy implementation.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps are being taken to improve the UK defence industrial base in (a) Shropshire and (b) the West Midlands.
Answered by Maria Eagle
The recent Strategic Defence Review and National Security Strategy have identified the need to grow and enhance resilience in our defence industrial base. The Defence Industrial Strategy will set out the full package of measures to make the UK a defence industrial superpower by 2035. This will include a new partnership with industry to realise defence’s potential as an engine for growth across all the nations and regions of the UK, including Shropshire and the West Midlands.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the British Business Bank’s Cluster Champions programme to help support high-growth SMEs in South Northamptonshire.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The Cluster Champions programme is designed to provide up to £100 million of additional targeted investment to businesses in the eight Industrial Strategy sectors in ten clusters located in city regions across the whole of the UK. While not part of the clusters, high-growth SMEs in South Northamptonshire benefit from access to the £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, which provides debt and equity finance to businesses across the Midlands.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the contribution of Midlands Engine to (a) attracting international investment and (b) supporting export growth for Midlands businesses.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Midlands Engine have undertaken a range of valuable work and have supported collaboration on shared growth opportunities. This has included launching the Midlands Engine Investment Portfolio at The UK's Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum in May 2024 and holding a Midlands Wide Kings Awards Event to encourage more firms to export.
Following the recent consultation, the Government has confirmed its decision not to extend core funding for Midland Engine and other pan-regional partnerships. We are moving to a different model of economic collaboration, where we are keen to support new models driven by mayors and their partners.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her Department’s timeframe is for making decisions on the future of the Midlands Engine.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Midlands Engine have undertaken a range of valuable work and have supported collaboration on shared growth opportunities.
The English Devolution White Paper published in December 2024 last year sets out our intention in future to support mayors in working together across boundaries.
We have now consulted on our minded to decision not to extend funding for the six pan-regional partnerships beyond the agreed allocations to the end of the 2024-25 financial year. We are currently considering the responses received, and we expect to announce our decision very soon.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by Midlands Engine entitled Energy Security White Paper, published in December 2024.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government welcomes this paper as a strong example of regional leadership in the energy space and the commitment of the Midlands Engine Partnership to look to align its actions with Great British energy’s priorities and functions. The Midlands is a crucial region to the UK’s clean energy transition and the paper identifies many important issues that need to be addressed, including grid connections and reform of the planning system, where we set out our approach in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by Midlands Engine entitled The nuclear industry in the Midlands, published in February 2025; and whether he is taking steps to help support nuclear-related economic growth in the (a) East Midlands and (b) West Midlands.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is supporting rapid development of the nuclear fission and fusion energy sectors.
For fusion this includes investing in cutting edge research capabilities and facilities, and implementing a proportionate regulatory framework to cement the UK as a global hub for fusion investment and commercialisation. This includes the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) prototype fusion energy power plant which aims to prove the viability of commercial fusion and catalyse fusion sector development.
We are determined to work with these sectors to ensure they continue to be economic engines for communities across our country, including the Midlands, and the Government is grateful for the excellent work Midlands Engine has done to highlight the opportunities in these areas.