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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support start-ups in the manufacturing sector.

The Government is committed to supporting UK manufacturing businesses, including start-ups and recognises the vital role they play in the UK economy, by driving innovation, exports, job creation and productivity growth.

We are committed to supporting manufacturers to take advantage of innovative technology and we recently announced £8 million in new government funding for the Made Smarter Adoption programme to help Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) increase productivity, competitiveness and drive up efficiency by adopting industrial digital technology, building on the success of our Made Smarter North West Pilot.

The Government’s business support schemes have been put in place to help eligible businesses to get through the pandemic, from all regions and backgrounds. Information on these schemes and other resources is available via the free Business Support Helpline.

The Start Up Loans Company, part of the Government-owned British Business Bank, provides loans and pre- and post-application support to new entrepreneurs, including a year of free business mentoring for successful applicants. Since 2012, over 86,000 Start Up Loans worth over £769 million have been issued to new entrepreneurs. We are also investing £147 million through the Made Smarter Innovation programme to help forward-thinking UK manufacturers create new, green products and processes, slash carbon emissions, drive up productivity and create thousands of highly skilled new jobs across the country.