In March 2012, BIS and DEFRA jointly published the Government's Resource Security Action Plan. This document was developed in response to business concerns about the continued availability of, and access to, critical raw materials including extracted minerals.

A key action point was the creation of the Circular Economy Task Force led by the Green Alliance to help inform Government thinking on resource security. Their first year report, Resource resilient UK, shows how to address constraints in supply of critical materials and secure resource supplies for the UK.

The action plan and report may be seen at these links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resource-security-action-plan-making-the-most-of-valuable-materials

http://www.green-alliance.org.uk/grea1.aspx?id=6571

The UK is committed to ratifying the Cape Town Convention on international interests in mobile equipment and the Protocol thereto on matters specific to aircraft equipment. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) continues to work closely with industry representatives on the benefits of ratification.

As the next step in this process a response to the call for evidence on ratification of the Cape Town Convention and Protocol as it relates to aircraft was published on 6 December 2013 and can be viewed from the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/call-for-evidence-convention-on-international-interests-in-mobile-equipment-and-protocol-thereto-on-matters-specific-to-aircraft-equipment

The Convention and Protocol on matters specific to aircraft equipment contain a number of options for how the UK implements the treaty. The response to the call for evidence sets out BIS' intention to hold a consultation on these options.

The Government do not intend to ratify the space protocol as it has been advised by the space industry that a system of protection for creditors already exists. The Government is supportive of the benefits of the rail protocol, however this is still being negotiated at European level and no decision will be taken whether the UK ratifies the rail protocol until these discussions have concluded.

The Government expects the Green Investment Bank to play a key role in mobilising additional private sector capital and increasing the overall scale and pace of investment into the UK green economy. By providing finance to projects that have a strong green impact while making a strong commercial return on its capital, the Bank will help demonstrate to the wider market that investing in green projects makes sound commercial sense. To date the Bank has committed £635 million to 11 projects with a total value of £2.3 billion, mobilising almost £3 of additional capital for every £1 provided.