Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 trends in the level of British industrial capacity on young people’s future employment and skills opportunities.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our modern Industrial Strategy focuses on eight sectors with the greatest potential to raise national levels of investment and productivity, spread prosperity to all parts of the country, make us all more secure, and seize the opportunities of net zero. The Strategy sets out our plans to deliver more opportunities for people at all stages of life, including young people, to learn and earn in our high-growth sectors. Additionally, we are investing £820 million for the Youth Guarantee meaning young people aged 16-24 are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, and also announced a £725 million investment to deliver more apprenticeships for young people and help match skills training with local job opportunities.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what support his Department is providing to British industrial companies that employ significant numbers of people directly and indirectly through their supply chains.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The department’s modern Industrial Strategy will make the UK the best country to invest in and grow. We are targeting government investment towards our world-class eight-growth driving sectors, from life sciences to digital technologies and advanced manufacturing so British workers can upskill and fill vacancies.
From 2027, the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) will reduce electricity costs by up to £35–40/MWh for manufacturing frontier industries in the Industrial Strategy and foundational industries in their supply chains, by exempting them from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and Capacity Market.
DBT provides targeted capital through several key programmes:
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department is taking steps to prevent the sale of high-powered after-market batteries for (a) e-scooters and (b) e-bikes.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Under existing UK regulations, businesses must only place safe products, including batteries for e-bikes and e-scooters, on the market. In 2024, the Department published statutory guidelines for lithium-ion e-bike batteries, clarifying that they must protect against the risk of thermal runaway to be considered safe products. Regulators have powers to enforce these regulations. The Government has now introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025, which will enable us to modernise and improve our product safety framework for products sold online and on the high street.
E-bikes must meet legal speed and power limits to be used on the road.