Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether the Government considers maintaining domestic cement manufacturing capability to be of strategic national importance.

The Government recognises the importance of the UK’s cement manufacturing industry, particularly to the Government’s goals of reindustrialisation and significant infrastructure projects. The cement sector receives support under the British Industry Supercharger (Supercharger) which exempts eligible businesses from certain electricity policy costs and provides 90% compensation for electricity network charges. Eligible cement manufacturing businesses benefitted from the uplift to the Network Charging Compensation Scheme, part of the Supercharger, and now save approximately £65 – 87/MWh on their electricity bills improving their competitiveness and mitigating the risk of carbon leakage and the offshoring of production to overseas competitors with less stringent climate change policies.