Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to sustain aerospace engineering capability and capacity in the South West region.

Anna Soubry

We work closely with aerospace companies and their representative organisations, in particular the West of England Aerospace Forum (WEAF), in the South West through the Aerospace Growth Partnership (AGP) to tackle barriers to growth, boost exports and grow high value jobs. As part of this work we are investing heavily in the sector to support the industry’s private investment in technology, competitiveness and productivity, manufacturing capability and skills.

The work of the AGP includes businesses of all sizes in the South West region including large players such as Airbus, Finmeccanica Helicopters, GE Aviation, GKN, Rolls-Royce, Safran Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, UTC Aerospace Systems, as well as their many medium and small sized suppliers, and other specialist aerospace businesses.