PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Private Sector Investment - 12 March 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

I thank my hon. Friend, who is an advocate and champion of businesses in Lichfield. As I am sure he is aware, we are making sure that the UK is the best place in the world to invest by backing priority sectors through our industrial strategy. The advanced manufacturing sector plan will strengthen UK supply chains in sectors such as automotive, aerospace and clean energy industries, ensuring that businesses in Lichfield, such as its manufacturing and logistics businesses, get the skills, technology and new commercial opportunities that they need.

The quantum technology sector is hugely important for the UK. We have world-leading researchers and businesses innovating in healthcare, defence and many more industries, but quantum firms tell me that as they grow, they find it harder and harder to secure the investment that they need to commercialise their exceptional ideas. The risk that we face is that they will take their businesses out of the UK in order to seek that investment. That is why I recently established the all-party parliamentary group on quantum technologies to help Members of both Houses to understand this rapidly evolving sector. What can the Government do to ensure that our quantum businesses get the investment that they need to grow here in the UK?

I thank my hon. Friend for his work in establishing the all-party parliamentary group on quantum technologies. He is right to identify these technologies as very important for the future, and to put his finger on the particular problem that we have in the UK: while we are brilliant at innovating and investing in research, we have historically struggled with scale-up. That is not something that this Government are prepared to accept. Just as we are investing in critical minerals and automotive connected mobility technologies, we are investing in this area. The British Business Bank is doubling its annual investments to ensure that we can support scale-up and bring forward at least 10 new-to-market growth-stage funds so that we can leverage pension investments and help British businesses to stay and grow in the UK.

An increase in private sector investment is being seriously held back by the failure of the Government to publish their defence investment plan. Has the Minister any idea when this much-awaited document will hit the streets?

The Government recognise the importance of the defence industrial plan, which will be brought to the House as soon as it can be. On private sector investment, £10 billion of investment came in from the regional summits, and £79 billion of investment was identified in the last industrial strategy quarterly report. Investors are voting with their money, and they are investing in the UK.

I call the shadow Minister.

The Minister responsible for the Post Office and the Royal Mail, my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Blair McDougall), is sitting beside me. Just yesterday, he spent 90 minutes in the House answering questions from Members who have had problems with the service across the whole of the country; I have seen such problems in my constituency as well. The Government are clearly not happy with the level of service from the Royal Mail, and the shadow Minister will hear a full response to Question 15, when my hon. Friend will stand at the Dispatch Box and tell her everything that she needs to know about that particular meeting.

There is an assumption that we will get there. [Laughter.]