Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much UK public money has been used to purchase steel from loss-making state-owned Chinese steel making companies (a) through the Crown Commercial Service and (b) in total in the last 10 years.

The Crown Commercial Service has not awarded any contracts for the procurement of steel.

Information on departmental spend on steel is not held centrally.

All departments are now required to implement new guidelines, which we published on 30 October last year, on how government buyers should source steel for major projects so that the true value of UK steel is taken into account in major procurement decisions.