Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the British Geological Survey for UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre on Potential for Critical Raw Material Prospectivity in the UK, published on 17 April.

“Potential for Critical Raw Material Prospectivity in the UK” was a study undertaken by the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre, a programme sponsored by the Department for Business and Trade and delivered by the British Geological Survey. This report delivers on the Critical Minerals Strategy’s commitment to collate geoscientific data and identify target areas of potential for critical minerals within the UK. It is a preliminary assessment, and its findings do not mean that the prospective areas identified will necessarily be targeted for exploration and mining. The Government is working with the British Geological Survey to understand next steps.