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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will set out a strategy for developing a UK based supply chain to support delivery of the target of deploying 1GW of floating offshore wind by 2030.

One of the key priorities of this government is putting in place policies to support a significant growth of offshore wind to 2030 and beyond. Within this, we are committed to supporting the development of floating offshore wind, as reflected by our ambitious target of 1GW of floating wind by 2030 and ensuring the UK captures the economic benefits of deploying such technology.

Floating offshore wind projects will be eligible to bid in the next Contract for Difference allocation round, which will open in December 2021. We are committed to developing a strong supply chain for floating offshore wind in parallel with growing deployment and are working with industry and other stakeholders on this. Our approach to the next CfD allocation round will provide the foundation for investment in a sustainable, competitive UK based supply chain from which we will learn to help plan our future approach and the feasible scale of ramp up of deployment, building on the success of fixed bottom wind, which has this year delivered supply chain investments in blades, monopiles and transition pieces, creating and safeguarding over 1,800 direct jobs by 2030.