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 Oral Statement of 31 October 2016 Nissan: Sunderland, whether the award of £61 million to Nissan in June 2018 detailed in his letter to the BEIS Select Committee of 4 February 2019 was scrutinised by the Industrial Development Advisory Board and reported to Parliament.

I can confirm that the application by Nissan for £61m of support was scrutinised by the Industrial Development Advisory Board.

The role of the board under the Industrial Development Act 1982 is to advise my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and make independent recommendations. Only if the Secretary of State wished to act contrary to the board’s recommendation (which was not the case with the Nissan award), he shall (if the Board requests) lay a statement before Parliament. There is no obligation to do so when he acts in accordance with their recommendation.