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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his officials visited the Newport Wafer Fab prior to the announcement of the divestment decision.

On 9 May 2022, Government officials with expertise in the semiconductor sector visited the facility and met representatives of Nexperia. The Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy called in the acquisition and began the assessment process on 25 May 2022. As is required under the National Security and Investment Act, the Secretary of State considered all representations made by the company when making the Final Order.