Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Strategic Investment Opportunities Unit within the Office for Investment supports SMEs and scale-ups to access investment in (a) Basildon and Billericay constituency and (b) other areas outside major conurbations.

As announced in the Infrastructure Strategy the new Strategic Investment Opportunities unit will identify, shape and deliver on strategic projects and programmes with significant scope for private capital and investor interest. These will be aligned to investor demand and matched to relevant institutional investors.

Attracting investors and capital is crucial to driving growth across the country, and will ultimately benefit SMEs in locations outside major conurbations, where aligned to investor demand.