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.

The answer I gave the Hon. Member on 17^th 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.