Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress her Department has made on bringing about an EU suspension of the Minimum Import Price of solar Chinese solar modules pending the European Commission review of EU trade measures on Chinese solar manufacturea.

The EU launched an Expiry Review in December 2015 into the Minimum Import Price on solar panels entering the EU from China. We expect the investigation is expected to run until at least December 2016.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change wrote to Commissioner Malmström in November 2015 to argue that the wider costs of the Minimum Import Price should be fully taken into account in the Expiry Review of the anti-dumping measures, given the benefits to the UK and EU of lower solar panel prices.

The Government will continue to engage with the Commission and do whatever we can to promote UK interests.