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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the announcement in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022 that the Government will invest £700 million in the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power plant, (a) whether he plans to allocate any additional public funds to that plant and (b) whether he expects that private finance will be required for that plant.

The Government aims to approve the pledged investment in Sizewell C this month, subject to final approvals for the investment. This funding would come from the up to £1.7bn of Government funding made available in the 2021 Spending Review for developing a large-scale nuclear project to final investment stage in this Parliament.

Final approvals and details surrounding this investment will be announced in due course. Details of the project’s potential financial structure are subject to ongoing, commercially sensitive negotiations.

The Government has established a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model to attract private investment into new nuclear projects.