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.

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.