Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps they are taking to increase the amount of UK made steel used in procurement contracts overseen by their Department.

The Government Commercial Function (GCF), based in the Cabinet Office, published its strategy document for 2026 to 2029 on 7 April 2026, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/introducing-the-government-commercial-function-gcf-strategy-2026-29/introducing-the-government-commercial-function-gcf-strategy-2026-29-html#pillar-one---people-a-capable-inspired-workforce-whose-talent-is-nurtured

Driving economic growth is a key pillar of this strategy, in line with Government policy, capitalising on the industrial strategy targets to create jobs in the United Kingdom, and a key part of the strategy is market shaping and making use of the collective buying power of the Government to drive UK economic growth and resilience.

One of the first steps will be for the GCF to work with the commercial directors across the Government in four pilot sectors, namely shipbuilding, steel, artificial intelligence, and energy infrastructure, to identify key data requirements, and to pilot underpinning market shaping assessments for each. The Cabinet Office will be publishing a Procurement Policy Notice specifically on UK steel transparency later this year.