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 make an assessment of the potential effect of the proposed privatisation of the Green Investment Bank on future levels of investment in businesses by that bank.

The Government has set out its plans for the sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) in the document “Green Investment Bank: sale of shares” laid before Parliament on 3 March 2016.

Moving GIB into private ownership will enable the bank to have greater access to capital and be free of the constraints of Government ownership including state aid restrictions. This means GIB will be able to play more of a role in supporting green investment.