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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support the UK Steel industry.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has reformed and co-chairs the UK Steel Council, an important a forum to work together on transitioning to a competitive, sustainable and low carbon future. My noble Friend the Minister for Investment, Lord Grimstone, has also formed and co-chairs the Steel Procurement Taskforce to help the sector be well placed in competing for and securing public contracts.

Our wide-ranging support also includes: providing over £500m in recent years to help with the costs of energy; a £315m Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which aims to support businesses with high energy use to cut their bills and reduce carbon emission; and our £250m Clean Steel Fund that will support the decarbonisation of the steel sector. The sector has also had access to our unprecedented package of COVID support, which is still available to the sector to protect jobs and ensure that producers have the right support during this challenging time.