Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to support investment into research and development across the hydrogen technology manufacturing sector.

Since 2020, Innovate UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has awarded more than £405 million in hydrogen related R&D funding to support technology development, strengthen supply chains, advance hydrogen production, and to enable its use across the transport, energy, and industrial sectors.

The Industrial Strategy set out the government’s approach to attract private investment into clean energy industries, including our hydrogen economy (including the £1 billion Clean Energy supply chain fund), £5.8 billion for the National Wealth Fund to invest in clean industries, and a £4 billion British Business Bank Growth Capital scale and start-up financing package. The proposed British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will also reduce electricity costs for manufacturing supply chains in priority clean energy sectors such as hydrogen.