Written questions by Kumar.

What steps he is taking to ensure that support programmes provide meaningful access to all types of finance, as well as investment education and readiness support, such as training, mentoring, and guidance, for female founders in all regions.

Backing women-led businesses across the regions is a priority for this government. To tackle access to finance, the government-backed Invest in Women Taskforce has secured commitments of £635 million to be invested in women-led businesses across the UK. The British Business Bank has delivered over 118,000 loans totalling more than £1.1 billion through its Start Up Loans programme, with 40% going to female founders.UK Export Finance launched its new Female Founder Accelerator in January 2026 in partnership with Lifted Ventures. This will include workshops, mentoring and coaching to equip female founders with the support to scale internationally with confidence.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a co‑investment fund with diverse angel investors.

The British Business Bank's Angel Co-Fund programme already invests alongside syndicates of Business Angels. Every £1 invested by the Angel Co-Fund has leveraged around £5 from Angel syndicates.The Bank is also expanding its Angel Syndicate Programme to support diverse Angel networks. The programme's pilot engaged 185 new Angel investors, of whom 176 were female and 9 were male. Since launch of this pilot programme in 2023, the Bank has completed 29 investment deals worth £18.4 million.

Whether he is taking steps to (a) monitor and (b) report on the gender investment gap, such as tracking year‑on‑year venture capital and angel investment into female‑founded companies; and whether targets or timelines have been set by his Department for improvement in this area.

The Department for Business and Trade tracks year-on-year venture capital and angel investment in women-led businesses through its Investing in Women Code, a partnership between government, trade associations in the finance sector, and their members. Starting with 12 signatories in 2019, the Investing in Women Code now has over 300 finance providers signed up, including most major UK banks and Venture Capital funds.Signatories to the Code report gender-disaggregated data on an annual basis for publication. Investing in Women Code reports demonstrate that Code signatories perform significantly better than the market average as regards investment in female founders.

What steps his Department is taking to increase economic growth in Dudley constituency.

The recently announced Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy, forming part of our wider Growth Mission, aim to support businesses across the country by creating the conditions for companies to invest, employ and grow. Dudley, with its rich manufacturing heritage, will benefit from a range of new interventions, including measures to reduce energy costs and, assistance to develop and attract the right skills. As part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Dudley has and will continue to benefit from enhanced support targeting the region including devolved funding for local leaders, to continue delivering the right support. We will also be publishing our Small Business Strategy soon which will set out further measures to increase economic growth in Dudley and across the country.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK-India trade deal on ceramics manufacturers.

The Department recognises the significant challenges faced by energy-intensive industries like ceramics, including rising global energy costs, unfair trading practices, and carbon leakage. We are taking firm action to protect these industries, including through trade defence measures against dumping and subsidisation. The UK-India FTA also includes a bilateral safeguard mechanism, allowing the UK to suspend or increase tariff concessions if serious injury occurs.Over 93% of Indian ceramics entered the UK tariff-free in 2024 prior to the FTA conclusion whilst the remaining 7% paid a tariff. 11 of the 43 ceramics tariff lines are dutiable and face a simple average tariff of 4%.