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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his announcement on the Industrial Strategy, what steps is he taking to ensure that the Strategy is delivered across the regions and nations of the UK.

The government’s ambitious Industrial Strategy sets out a long term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK.

We want to work with partners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to develop local industrial strategies that build on the success of our on-going work to agree City and Growth Deals in each nation.

We are supporting innovation across the United Kingdom. Our £725m second wave of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund complements innovation excellence held in Northern Ireland and across the whole of the United Kingdom, and our newly announced £115m Strength in Places fund seeks to support innovation that can drive local growth across the regions and nations of the UK.

We will work with the devolved administrations to ensure that we can deliver on the promise of our key policies in the Industrial Strategy. We are focusing on how we address our Grand Challenges; deliver Sector Deals for businesses across the UK; maximise the impact of our respective agencies; and work jointly to deliver for places in each nation.