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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he considered evidence (a) that the UK and Welsh Governments (i) were aware in advance of and (ii) raised no objections to the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia and (b) of the level of investment by Nexperia into the Water Fab since its acquisition when making his decision on divestment.

The National Security and Investment Act was not in force when the original acquisition took place in 2021. The Secretary of State used retrospective powers to call-in and assess the acquisition under the Act. The Secretary of State takes decisions under the Act in a quasi-judicial capacity, based on the facts and evidence presented to him. The Act only allows the Secretary of State to make a Final Order to prevent, remedy or mitigate risks to national security, and not for wider political or economic reasons. As you’d expect, I’m unable to comment on the details of national security assessments.