Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will sign his Department up to the UK Steel charter.

The Department supports the Charter where this is relevant to our commercial activities and only where consistent with the relevant procurement regulations that require fair and open competition.

The Parliamentary Undersecretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Andrew Stephenson MP), wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 29 May to ask the Department to sign the Steel Charter. We are not aware of any further formal discussions on the topic. On matters relating to procurement policy, Departmental officials continue to work with officials in the Domestic Policy Team at Cabinet Office.