Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent estimate she has made of when (a) her Department will reach an agreement with British Steel on and (b) work will begin on the construction of an arc furnace for processing steel on Teesside.

The Government made an extremely generous offer of support to British Steel earlier this year, to help them invest in a sustainable future. Since the offer was made, officials have continued to work intensively with British Steel to explore options. The detail of these conversations is highly confidential.

British Steel’s plans for starting work on an electric arc furnace on Teesside are a commercial matter for the company.