Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.69 in the Autumn Statement, CP751, published on 17 November 2022, what retained EU law the Government has identified as a barrier to growth in (a) life sciences, (b) digital technology and (c) advanced manufacturing.

Silicon Valley is respected across the world as a dynamic centre of technology innovation that creates jobs and high wages. Our ambition is to enable similar world-leading growth industries to succeed in the UK.

At the Autumn Statement, to help remove barriers to growth, the government committed to move rapidly to review retained EU law including in named key growth industries. The government committed to identify changes that can be made over the next year.

In addition to regulation, the Autumn Statement announced numerous measures to support key growth sectors, for example, recommitting to increasing publicly funded R&D to £20 billion by 2024-25. Regulation plays an important role in the sectors named in the Autumn Statement, and, in general, these sectors are around 20% of UK output and have driven around 30% of UK growth since 1998. They have above average productivity, and cover goods and services where the UK has a relatively high share of world exports.

By moving rapidly to review EU law to identify changes that can be made over the next year with the greatest potential to unlock growth, the government will be supporting key growth industries to be even more dynamic.