03 March 2024
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Ahead of the Spring Budget this week, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today (Monday 4 March) announced a significant investment package in the UK’s life sciences and manufacturing sectors, as part of the government’s plan to grow the economy, boost health resilience and support jobs across the UK. The funding will go towards several companies and projects who are making cutting edge technology in sectors key to economic growth and part of wider government support to ensure the UK is the best place to start, grow and invest in manufacturing. This includes £7.5 million to support two pharmaceutical companies who are investing a combined £84 million to expand their manufacturing plants in the UK. Almac, a pharmaceutical company in Northern Ireland produces drugs to treat diseases such as cancer, heart disease and depression, while Ortho Clinical diagnostics in Pencoed, Wales, is expanding its facilities producing testing products used to identify a variety of diseases and conditions. These new life sciences investments are the latest step in the government’s plan to grow our economy, encourage innovation and support levelling up with nearly 300 supported jobs across the UK. The Chancellor is also confirming that companies will soon be able to apply for a share of the £520 million funding for life sciences manufacturing announced at Autumn Statement, with competitions for large scale investments opening for expressions of interest this summer and medium and smaller sized companies in the autumn. The fund is designed to build resilience for future health emergencies such as influenza pandemics and capitalise on the UK’s world-leading research and development. On top of this, the government has announced almost £73 million in combined government and industry investment for cutting-edge automotive R&D projects to support the development of electric vehicle technology, delivering highly skilled jobs and cementing the UK’s position as a global hub for EV manufacturing. Supported by more than £36 million of government funding awarded through Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) competitions, this includes four projects which are developing technologies for the next generation of battery electric vehicles, making them more efficient and competitive, led by companies including automotive manufacturers YASA and Empel Systems. This funding is also supporting a project led by Integrals Power, developing and scaling up high-performance battery systems ahead of testing their mass-commercialisation, enhancing safety, power density, and cost-efficiency. These projects build on the of the government’s established automotive initiatives. The Autumn Statement provided future certainty, announcing over £2 billion across five years from 2025 to unlock investment in the manufacturing and development of zero emission vehicles, their batteries and supply chain. The government will ensure a seamless transition to the new Auto2030 programme which will deliver support in future, and investors are still able to apply to the current schemes. The government has already spent over £2 billion to accelerate the uptake of zero emission vehicles, including reducing the upfront cost of electric vehicles and supporting the roll-out of charging infrastructure. The UK’s first ever Battery Strategy published last year outlines our plan for the UK to attract investment and achieve a globally competitive battery supply chain by 2030, with the battery sector alone expected to create 100,000 highly paid and skilled jobs in the UK. The significant funding package for R&D and manufacturing projects announced today is targeted to support sectors where the UK is or could be world-leading and is designed to unlock investment from the private sector by providing certainty to investors - supporting the government’s priority to grow our economy by protecting existing and creating new jobs, so we can deliver the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: “We’re sticking with our plan by backing the industries of the future with millions of pounds of investment to make the UK a world leader in manufacturing, securing the highly-skilled jobs of the future and delivering the long-term change our country needs to deliver a brighter future for Britain”. Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “Our plan for the British economy is working – which is why firms like Airbus and BMW are continuing to bet on Britain.” Science Secretary, Michelle Donelan, said: "The UK's £108 billion life sciences sector is driven by the pioneering contributions of over 300,000 highly-skilled individuals who transform lives through groundbreaking advancements in drug discovery and diagnostics. Further measures include:
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “We are backing our green industries with extra cash for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator - taking the total to more than £1 billion. We have long been energy pioneers in advanced manufacturing and this will allow us to carry on that great British tradition. While we have attracted £300bn in low carbon investment since 2010, with £24bn since September alone, this will help to unlock even more.”
Today’s announcements follow £4.5 billion announced at Autumn Statement to increase investment in strategic manufacturing sectors – auto, aero, life sciences and clean energy - across the UK for five years from 2025. Katherine Bennett, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult said: “Today’s funding announcements from the Chancellor for R&D and manufacturing projects are welcome news for our domestic life sciences, automotive and aerospace sectors and will support the growth of cross-sector low carbon supply chains across the UK. “From developing technology for lower-carbon aircraft wings, to supporting the expansion of UK-based supply chains in offshore wind, hydrogen and electrification our network of innovation centres is helping drive industrial transformation across the UK” Stephen Phipson, Chief Executive of Make UK, said: “Industry will welcome this announcement as yet another boost for key sectors that will put advanced manufacturing at the heart of the UK’s economic future. These industries will be key to addressing many of the societal challenges we face in a competitive world and highlight what can be achieved with a constructive dialogue between Government and business. Taken together they are another piece in the jigsaw of a modern industrial strategy to make the UK a world leader in key sectors of the future.” APC Chief Executive Officer Ian Constance said: “We’re committed to building the electric vehicle supply chain in the UK. By investing in the capability and expertise in this country we will grow businesses and take decisive action towards creating zero tailpipe emission technology. Our latest R&D funding does just that.” |
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Notes to editors Today’s changes come alongside wider progress across government’s commitments set out in the Advanced Manufacturing Plan including:
A full breakdown of the auto and aero winning projects is included below: Advanced Propulsion Centre Collaborative R&D projects led by: Nissan Technical Centre Europe: Building the UK R&D electric vehicle capability and enhancing the knowledge base in the UK EV battery industry as a whole.
Advanced Propulsion Centre Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV2) competition funded by the Automotive Transformation Fund:
9 Aerospace Technology Institute Programme projects led by:
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