Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that UK produced steel is increasingly used in the building of HS2.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
HS2 Ltd does not currently have any plans to buy steel directly. However, HS2 Ltd continues to uphold the principles of the Crown Commercial Service’s Procurement Policy Note (11/16): Procuring Steel in Major Projects; which aims to reduce the barriers faced by UK steel producers when conducting procurement activity. For instance, the company’s contractors are required to tender all steel requirements in open and transparent competition, applying a series of evaluation factors that take into account relevant social and environmental benefits.
HS2 Ltd has met with the UK Steel Board and pledged to work with UK Steel members and has also met with British Constructional Steel Association (fabricators) Confederation of British Metalforming, UK Steel Long Product Groups and the Galvanisers Association. HS2 Ltd has engaged extensively with the British steel industry over the last five years to ensure that it is in the best position possible to compete for contracts to build Britain’s new high-speed rail network. The success of this engagement is underlined by the fact that, at tier 3, 28 of the 29 reinforcement fabrication contracts supplying the HS2 piling category today have been awarded to a total of 9 UK-based companies, as an example. HS2 Ltd also publishes a dedicated ‘Steel Pipeline’ to UK Steel and the BCSA on a quarterly basis (the last one being September 2021), which sets out upcoming steel-related contract opportunities.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of steel that has been ordered to be used in the construction of HS2 as of 30 November 2021 will be produced in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport are committed to working with the UK steel industry to ensure it is engaged, informed and prepared to seize the contract opportunities that will be generated by HS2. HS2 Ltd’s contractors are committed to signalling demand pipelines and tendering all steel opportunities in open and transparent competition. Social and environmental benefits and the impacts of proposals will be evaluated as part of a Balanced Scorecard approach to procurement, in alignment with the Procurement Policy Note 11/16: Procuring Steel in Major Projects. HS2 Ltd is currently providing its latest steel procurement data to the Department for Transport. This will in turn be provided to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and published as a single industry steel pipeline around Spring 2022.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of steel used in the construction of HS2 was produced in the UK as of 30 November 2021.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport are committed to working with the UK steel industry to ensure it is engaged, informed and prepared to seize the contract opportunities that will be generated by HS2. HS2 Ltd’s contractors are committed to signalling demand pipelines and tendering all steel opportunities in open and transparent competition. Social and environmental benefits and the impacts of proposals will be evaluated as part of a Balanced Scorecard approach to procurement, in alignment with the Procurement Policy Note 11/16: Procuring Steel in Major Projects. HS2 Ltd is currently providing its latest steel procurement data to the Department for Transport. This will in turn be provided to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and published as a single industry steel pipeline around Spring 2022.