Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will list the date of the most recent meeting for each of the trade advisory groups.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The most recent formal meeting dates of each of the Trade Advisory Groups are listed below:
Agri-Food: 12/05/2022
Automotive, Aerospace & Marine: 27/04/2022
British Manufactured & Consumer Goods: 23/06/2022
Chemicals: 6/03/2023
Creative Industries: 21/09/2022
Financial Services: 20/02/2023
Investment: 19/05/2022
Life Sciences: 10/06/2022
Professional Advisory Services: 18/05/2022
Telecoms & Technology: 05/05/2022
Transport Services: 21/06/2022
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the total budget allocated by her Department for the provision of a fixed-wing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance service by PAL Aerospace Ltd between April 2023 to October 2024.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Specific expenditure on ISR contracts is considered commercially and operationally sensitive information and is not published.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to increase manufacturing jobs in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government is committed to making the UK the best location in the world for manufacturing and recognising the vital role it plays in the UK economy, including job creation.
Advanced manufacturing has been identified by my Rt Hon. Friend the Chancellor as one of five key sectors that will be the engine to drive future growth in the UK and we are enhancing our manufacturing base through programmes in strategically important sub-sectors such as aerospace, automotive and life sciences and have committed nearly £650 million to fund the High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help encourage the manufacture of new zero-emission aircraft.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
As part of the Jet Zero Strategy, government co-invests in zero-carbon aircraft technology through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. To date, it has supported collaborative R&D projects totalling over £500m which will help develop new and enabling technologies for zero emission aircraft.
Government provided a £15m grant to the ATI-led FlyZero project, which found that green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft. Building on FlyZero, government is funding the ATI-led ‘Hydrogen Capability Network Phase 0 Project’ to accelerate the development of liquid hydrogen propulsion aircraft technologies, capabilities and skills in the UK.
Government also set up the Jet Zero Council, a partnership with industry to drive the ambitious delivery of new technologies and innovative ways to cut aviation emissions. It includes a focused Zero Emission Flight Delivery Group to advise on how government and industry can put the UK in a leading position in the race to achieve zero emission flight.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April to Question 174176 on Trade Missions: Gujarat, (a) who led and (b) which businesses took part in each mission; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The following business missions visited Ahmedabad in the last five years.
1. UK Life Sciences mission to Vibrant Gujarat Global Investment Summit in January 2017
Mission led by: Sir Dominic Asquith, BHC India
UK participation: Absynth Biologics, Bioguard Hygiene, Cambridge Consultants, Grant Thornton, Indoor Biotechnologies, National Institute for Healthcare Research, O2H Ventures, PA Consulting Group, QX and Woodley Bioreg.
2. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) visit to Ahmedabad in May 2019
Mission led by: Department for International Trade officials
UK participation: Dr Ian Hudson, Chief Executive Officer, MHRA
3.UK Life Sciences trade delegation to Ahmedabad in September 2019
Mission led by: Department for International Trade officials
UK participation: Britest, ChargePoint Technology, Chief.AI, Enzbond, Intract Pharma, LightQx, Malvern Panalytical, Micropore, One Health Ventures, Proimmune, Scitegrity, Sphere Fluidics, Stemnovate, Veratrak and Viridian.
4. UK Defence delegation to Ahmedabad in October 2022
Mission led by: UK Defence and Security Exports
UK participation: Aerospace Logistics, Avon Protection, BAE Systems, Eaton Aerospace (Cobham), Expleo Group, GE Power Conversion, Hensoldt, Innovation DB, JFD, Kongsberg Maritime, Leoardo, MBDA UK, Pearson Engineering, Reliance, Precision, Ricardo, Rolls Rocyce, Smiths Detection, Strongfield Technologies, Survitec, Thales UK, Ultra Electronics and Webley & Scott
5.Wales Government outreach to Ahmedabad in February 2023
Mission led by: Department for International Trade officials
UK participation: Welsh Government officials
6.CPI Life Sciences outreach to Ahmedabad in February 2023
Mission led by: Department for International Trade and Science & Innovation Network officials
UK participation: Dave Tudor Managing Director and John Arthur, Director, Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre, and Biologics, UK, and Arun Harish, Strategy Director and Cristina Blood, Senior Strategic Marketing Manager, CPI UK
7.UK Airport mission to Ahmedabad in February 2023
Mission led by: Department for International Trade officials
UK participation: British Aviation Group, Arup, Aurrigo, Foster + Partners, GATIC, Gillespie, Grimshaw, IAC, ICAD, ICF, IPSOTEK, NATS, TEX ATC and Zoeftig.
8.UKRI Foundation Industries mission to Ahmedabad in March 2023
Mission led by: UKRI and Innovate UK supported by Glass Futures, the Manufacturing Technology Centre and Knowledge Transfer Network
UK participation: Ai.Build, AiM Micromed, Carbon Re, CO2CO, Global Nano Network, Hexigone Inhibibitors, Material Evolution, Nanomax and The Glass Company
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support the manufacture of new zero emissions whole aircraft in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 setting out an approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050.
As part of the Jet Zero Strategy Government co-invests in ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. The ATI programme is investing £58m in the development of whole new zero emission aircraft led by Vertical Aerospace, ZeroAvia Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Rolls-Royce and Hybrid Air Vehicles. Industry has co-invested £57m alongside these grants. As all the aircraft are still in the development phase none have yet entered full scale production.
To support further work on zero emission flight the ATI led the £15m FlyZero project. This in-depth research study, which was completed in March 2022, found green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to support companies that produce high specification machining parts for aeronautics.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government has been supporting UK aerospace research through the £685m Aerospace Technology Institute programme. Sharing in Growth, an intensive competitiveness improvement programme, has received £86m to support aerospace suppliers. It has created c.2,500 to 3,500 additional jobs and generated a net impact on turnover of £799m to £1,145m across all beneficiaries. The Department is now also working with industry to develop Supply Chain Solutions, an industry funded supplier competitiveness programme.
This support helps attract inward investment into the UK, enables exports and helps secure major contract wins such as the recent Airbus deal with Air India.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 16 March 2023 to Question 162170 on Manufacturing Industries: Supply Chains, whether she had discussions with the Chancellor ahead of the Spring Budget 2023 on funding for the manufacturing sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
My Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade has frequent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about how to secure the best outcomes for the UK economy, including sectors such as manufacturing and its key sub-sectors like aerospace, automotive and life sciences.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support the introduction of zero-emission aircraft.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 which sets out its approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050. The Strategy considered the potential for zero emission flight alongside other measures.
The Government is investing a record £685 million over three years into R&D in the UK aerospace sector through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme. The Department announced in February £113 million of co-investment with industry in three Rolls-Royce led projects on hydrogen in aviation as well as funding towards Vertical Aerospace, who are developing a battery-electric aircraft in the South-West of England.
As part of the Jet Zero Council, the Department has also established a dedicated Delivery Group to convene activity across Government, industry and academia on the development of Zero Emission Flight.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take steps with Cabinet colleagues to incentivise the manufacture of new zero emissions aircraft in the UK for use on (a) regional and (b) sub-regional routes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 which sets out it’s approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050. The Strategy considers the potential for zero emission flight alongside other measures. This includes exploring the feasibility of using zero emission aircraft on existing UK government funded PSO routes, as well as noting the balance between reducing aviation emissions and ensuring value for money on routes supported by public funding.
As part of the Jet Zero Council, the Department has established a dedicated Delivery Group to convene activity across Government, industry and academia on the development of zero emission flight.
The Government is also investing £685 million between 2022 and 2035 through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme to co-fund, with industry, the development of zero-carbon and ultra-efficient aircraft technology. A recent example, announced at the seventh meeting of the Jet Zero Council in February, was £113 million of joint government and industry investment in R&D projects to develop liquid hydrogen combusting jet engines and high-end lightweight batteries for small aircraft.
ATI funding is also supporting the current flight testing by ZeroAvia of a 19- seater aircraft using hydrogen propulsion. If successfully brought to market such aircraft could provide zero emission flight on regional and sub-regional routes.