Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a programme to subsidise domestic electric battery manufacturing.

The battery sector currently employs 10,500 people across the UK and is one of the frontier industries highlighted in our Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.

The Government recently made the UK's largest single commitment to battery R&D and commercialisation of £452 million to 2030 in the new Battery Innovation Programme (BIP).

BIP targets technical skills gaps to develop engineers and scientists of the future, connects academic researchers with UK industry, and funds investor partnerships that improve access to investment for innovative battery companies ready to commercialise and scale in the UK.

This sits alongside DRIVE35, our long-term £2.5 billion commitment to zero emission vehicle manufacturing which provides capital support and additional R&D funding for strategic vehicle technologies, like batteries, accelerating their commercial scale-up.