Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has provided recent funding for research into the recycling of rare earth elements.

The Government is deploying public R&D funding to promote recycling, reuse, resource efficiency and substitution of critical minerals (including rare earth elements), for example via the £30 million National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme. Last month, UK Research and Innovation launched the Circular Critical Materials Supply Chains (CLIMATES) fund, with an initial £15 million to focus on making the UK’s rare earth element supply chains more resilient and boosting the circular economy. This will support innovations in supply chains and recycling, as well as engagement with international partners and support for future skills.