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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that companies which receive Government support on the basis of procuring 40 per cent or more of their steel content from the UK meet those obligations.

It is important that suppliers continue to be treated equally and fairly through open competition. Keeping our procurement market open to international competition facilitates UK suppliers being offered reciprocal rights to participate in procurements abroad.

We have established a joint industry and BEIS Steel Procurement Taskforce (launched on 12 March) with the aim of working with the sector to promote the unique selling points of UK steel and explore how best to support and position the industry for success in forthcoming major public contracts.