Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing support for the Oxford to Cambridge growth corridor on Huntingdon constituency.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan to back our strengths and realise Britain’s potential, targeting government investment towards eight-growth driving sectors (IS-8). There are clusters of the IS-8 sectors across the whole country, and the policy package addresses the biggest constraints to growth highlighted by businesses in these sectors.
To ensure robust and comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of the Industrial Strategy, we have chosen six economic indicators that reflect a range of desirable objectives for the IS-8 and the economy as a whole, which will be tracked at the economy-wide, sector and place level. Monitoring and evaluation of the Strategy will be overseen by the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council who will take a data-led approach.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on the transition to Connected and Autonomous Mobility.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan committed £150 million R&D grant funding to 2030 to support the transition to connected and automated mobility. £18 million of this funding has already been allocated to support supply chain, passenger and freight projects in Belfast, Sunderland, Cambridge, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, and others. £36.5 million will be open for competition this autumn.
Complementing this work, Department for Transport is implementing the Automated Vehicles Act (2024) by 2027 and has recently closed consultations on Misleading Marketing and Safety Principles with another on Advanced Passenger Services closing 28 September.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what recent progress has he made in establishing a high-calibre concierge service in the office for investment.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The enhanced Office for Investment (OfI) is working to deliver high calibre concierge support via increased senior-level investment expertise, strengthened partnerships with regional and national leaders, and specific tools to generate investor-led opportunities. The OfI is already helping government to provide a pipeline of opportunities designed with investors in mind, promoted effectively, and delivered with insight from sector experts and triage support for key investor barriers. This includes responsibility for delivering the £600m Strategic Sites Accelerator programme, as outlined in the Industrial Strategy. This comprehensive approach will ensure strategic investment projects are supported while providing critical decision-escalation pathways across government.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the threat posed to UK interests by economic coercion by adversaries.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The weaponisation of trade for geopolitical purposes is growing. This Government recognised those risks in our National Security Strategy, and why the Department of Business and Trade announced in the Trade Strategy that we would reform our trade defence tools, including seeking views on new powers to respond to deliberate economic pressure against the UK. Moreover, through the Trade and Industrial Strategies we are working to make our supply chains and economy more resilient and secure, including through simplifying export support services to help businesses diversify and build resilience, and establishing a Supply Chain Centre and an Economic Security Advisory Service.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a Bank Holiday to celebrate the victory of the England Women’s Football Team in the 2025 European Championships on the economy.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Government recognises the Lionesses’ extraordinary achievement in securing their second consecutive European title.
We regularly receive requests for additional bank and public holidays to mark a variety of occasions. While an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy remains considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday to be around £2 billion.
The current pattern of bank and public holidays is well established and the Government has no plans to create a one-off bank holiday to celebrate the victory of the England Women’s Football Team.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to page 33 of the National Security Strategy 2025, published on 24 June 2025, what progress he has made in establishing an Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) was established in October 2024, as part of the Department for Business and Trade, to strengthen the implementation and enforcement of UK trade sanctions. OTSI has civil enforcement powers, including the ability to impose civil monetary penalties. Further information on OTSI's remit can be found at GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has conducted an impact assessment on the potential impact of US ethanol imports on the production of bioethanol within the UK.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
We have concluded a landmark economic deal with the United States, making the UK the first country to reach an agreement with President Trump.
This is a unique deal that ensures UK industries are protected; talks with the US are ongoing.
Both the Secretary of State and senior officials from the Department for Business and Trade have been meeting representatives of the domestic bioethanol industry to discuss their concerns.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has conducted an impact assessment of the removal of tariffs from US imports of ethanol to the UK.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
We have concluded a landmark economic deal with the United States, making the UK the first country to reach an agreement with President Trump.
This is a unique deal that ensures UK industries are protected; talks with the US are ongoing.
Both the Secretary of State and senior officials from the Department for Business and Trade have been meeting representatives of the domestic bioethanol industry to discuss their concerns.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to page 22 of the Plan for Change, published on 5 December 2024, CP 1210, what steps he has taken to (a) reform and (b) expand the Office for Investment.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
As announced by the Prime Minister in October 2024, the enhanced Office for Investment (OfI) streamlines and simplifies our support for the most strategically important investors. The new OfI has more commercial expertise to originate, negotiate and land investment across all regions and nations of the UK. The new OfI is a joint No.10, HMT and DBT unit, spearheaded by the Minister for Investment, ensuring investment is prioritised at the top of government.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the trade agreement with the EU of 19 May 2025, what (a) tariffs and (b) rules will apply to steel exports to the EU.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The EU applies a safeguard measure on imports of 26 categories of steel in the form of tariff-rate quotas that allow certain volumes of imports per category to enter duty-free. A 25% duty is charged on volumes that exceed quotas.
Following a recent amendment by the EU, the UK’s duty-free access to category 17 (steel sections) was restricted to below traditional volumes.
As part of the new agreement, the EU committed to correcting this in line with traditional trade flows, which will allow UK industry to double the amount of tariff-free steel sections they can export to the EU.