Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Jones and Kenneth Stevenson

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)]

15. What progress his Department has made on developing an industrial strategy.

[The Minister for Industry (Sarah Jones)]

The Department is making good progress developing our industrial strategy—a strategy that has been called for by industry for many years and opposed by the Conservatives for ideological reasons. We have launched our consultation, we have met industry and thousands of businesses across the land, and we are finalising our report, which we will be publishing shortly. The spending review announcements yesterday on investment will add to the business growth in the country that we all want to see.

[Sarah Jones]

This is a challenging and difficult time for the workers and their families at Alexander Dennis, as well as for the local area. As Members would expect, I have engaged extensively with ADL’s senior executives alongside the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Department for Transport and the First Minister of Scotland to discuss what we can do to support. We wrote jointly to the company, offering to support it in any way we can. There are many issues that we tried to talk through with its representatives. Bus manufacturing sits with the Department for Transport, so it is taking the lead, but we are working together to do what we can.

[Kenneth Stevenson]

Do the Secretary of State and the Minister agree that the industrial towns and villages that make up Lanarkshire must be central to any modern industrial strategy? Will they meet me, potentially in Airdrie and Shotts, to hear more about the excellent skills and potential that exist throughout the constituency that could undoubtedly contribute to their and this Government’s ambitious work?

[Sarah Jones]

Of course, our industrial strategy will speak to the whole country about the way that we are supporting businesses to grow and thrive. We have identified eight growth-driving sectors as the arrowheads of growth, but there are also policies that we believe will lift the whole country. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend. I congratulate him on the support that the local community showed in the recent Hamilton by-election, and look forward to talking to him further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Jones and Kenneth Stevenson

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Sarah Jones)]

Great British Energy will deliver well-paid jobs in industrial communities. It will own and invest in projects across the country, it will crowd in private investment, and it will develop those crucial supply chains that will make us more resilient as a country and deliver more jobs.

[Kenneth Stevenson]

I was delighted to see the Government’s commitment to reindustrialise our nation, creating thousands of jobs in the process. This is the difference that a Labour Government can make, cleaning up the mess of the Tories and putting this country back on track. My constituency of Airdrie and Shotts is at the heart of Scotland’s central belt. Once an industrial heartland, it is full of skills and potential waiting to be unlocked. Will the Minister work with me to ensure that the benefit of the significant job creation that the Government are undertaking will be felt in my constituency?

[Sarah Jones]

I will work with my hon. Friend on creating the jobs that we all want. It has been announced that Great British Energy will be located in Aberdeen, and there are two additional sites, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. The national wealth fund has just announced a £20 million investment in XLCC, to support a world-leading factory in Hunterston producing cables. That will support 900 jobs. We have seen a £1.6 million investment by Sarens PSG to provide specialist equipment and skilled workers, and to set up a centre for excellence in Aberdeen. Those are the kinds of projects that we want across our communities, in his constituency and beyond.