Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 127749 on Iron and Steel: Carbon Emissions, which steel companies his Department has met to discuss these commercial decisions.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16th January 20223 to Question 120910 on Iron and Steel.
I can confirm that the Government is working closely with steel companies to support their decarbonisation options. Details of specific conversations are commercially confidential.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2022 to Question 77391 on Iron and Steel, if he will publish a list of trade unions in the steel sector the Government has met with.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Ministers and officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy frequently engage with steel trade unions.
I have recently met with Community Trade Union and I host a regular steel sector call which is attended by Unite, GMB and Community Trade Union.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 127746 on Iron and Steel: Energy, if he will estimate how much on average the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme will save steel producers.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) will follow on from the Energy Bills Relief Scheme. It will come into force from 1 April 2023 and will continue until 31 March 2024. This provides energy intensive industries, such as steel, with support above a threshold price of £185/MWh for electricity and £99/MWh for gas, up to a maximum of £89/MWh and £40/MWh respectively on the first 70% of energy usage. The remaining 30% of usage will receive a lower amount of support if prices rise above the threshold for the universal level of support. This is in addition to over £800m in energy relief Government has provided the steel sector since 2013.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 127746 on Iron and Steel: Energy, if he will make an estimate of the savings generated for the steel sector by Government support for energy bills since 2013.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) will follow on from the Energy Bills Relief Scheme. It will come into force from 1 April 2023 and will continue until 31 March 2024. This provides energy intensive industries, such as steel, with support above a threshold price of £185/MWh for electricity and £99/MWh for gas, up to a maximum of £89/MWh and £40/MWh respectively on the first 70% of energy usage. The remaining 30% of usage will receive a lower amount of support if prices rise above the threshold for the universal level of support. This is in addition to over £800m in energy relief Government has provided the steel sector since 2013.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make a comparative assessment of the impact of energy costs on steel companies in (a) the UK, (b) Germany, (c) Italy, (d) France and (e) Sweden.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Ofgem has previously carried out research on what drives comparatively high GB electricity prices for energy intensive industries (EIIs) and have compared them with selected European countries. They published a report in 2021 which can be found here:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/research-gb-electricity-prices-energy-intensive-industries.
The Government has supported the steel sector extensively, including providing over £800m since 2013 to help with the costs of electricity and to support a low carbon transition. The 2022 British Energy Security Strategy announced that the EII Compensation Scheme would be extended for a further 3 years with increased aid intensity, representing a doubling of relief. It also announced that the Government would consider making similar changes to the related EII Exemption Scheme and that we will explore other possible measures to reduce electricity costs for EIIs.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for which the quantity of steel produced in the UK has reduced since 2007.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Between 2007 and 2021, crude steel production reduced from c.14 million tonnes per annum to c. 7 million tonnes. 3.6 million tonnes of this reduction can be attributed to the closure of the SSI steel site at Redcar which entered insolvency in 2015 with no ability to restart the blast furnaces.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make a comparative assessment of the steel produced in the (a) UK and (b) German steel industry.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The UK steel sector produced c.7m tonnes of steel in 2021, employing c.34,000 (SIC 24.1-3) in the same year. The German steel industry produced c. 40mt in 2021, and in 2020 employed c.125k (SIC 24.1-3). (Sources: World Steel Association, ONS, BG level employment, table 2, Eurostat, Annual Detailed Enterprise Statistics for Industry).
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 119981, whether he has made an assessment of the reasons for the change in the UK’s global ranking for steel production.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Over recent years, developing economies have expanded their steel sectors. As a result, developed economies have dropped down the global league table for steel production since 2008. The G20 Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) has identified that a significant proportion of the world’s excess steel capacity is coming from China, who provide a range of unfair subsidies and support to their steel industry.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a closer partnership between the Government and the UK steel industry.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government engages regularly with the UK steel sector, trade unions and devolved administrations to develop a viable long-term future for the UK steel industry. This two-way engagement is very important, particularly in the current globally challenging economic conditions.
I held a call with members of the steel sector on 6th December, met with Community Trade Union on the 24 January and attended the All Party Parliamentary Group (with sector representatives present) on the 25 January. I am due to meet soon with UK Steel, and I plan to hold the next steel sector call in February.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2023 to Question 120907 on Iron and Steel: Employment, what assessment he has made of the causes for the decline in jobs in (a) steel production and (b) the steel production supply chain.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The answer I gave the Hon. Member on 17th January to Question 120907 shows there has been an increase in the estimated number of people employed in basic iron and steel between 2010 and 2020.
There are a series of acute global challenges for steel including steel overcapacity, unfair subsidies and dumping, and global impacts on raw material and energy costs from the pandemic and Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.
However, the Government remains committed to working with the industry to support its transition to a competitive, sustainable, and low carbon future, supporting local economic growth and levelling-up.