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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to support the recovery of the automotive sector from the impact of the covid-19 outbreak in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.

The automotive sector is an important part of the Government’s plans for green growth, levelling up across our country and driving emissions to net zero by 2050.

We are delivering a sustained and strategic programme of support for the automotive sector across the country, including Coventry and the West Midlands region to enable the research and development, manufacture and adoption of low and zero-emission technologies. In addition, we have extended the furlough scheme and introduced other measures including £300 billion in loans and guarantees, job support schemes, cuts to VAT and business rates relief to support the industry throughout this pandemic. During the height of the pandemic, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme had a high uptake of 60% within the sector, which remains available until September.

In late 2020, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in his 10 Point Plan nearly £500 million of funding for the Automotive Transformation Fund over the next four years to support the development of UK supply chains for the large-scale production of electric vehicles, and for further EV research and development. This is part of a £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. The transition to zero emission vehicles will help the UK meet its climate change obligations. It will improve air quality in our towns and cities, support economic growth, and create new jobs in our industrial heartlands.