Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the level of procurement of British steel by local authorities in the UK.

The Government has not made an assessment of the level of procurement of British steel by local authorities in England and it does not collect or hold this information centrally.

Last year Government issued guidance across central government, which sets out how government buyers should source steel for major projects in a more strategic and transparent way. This is underpinned by more detailed guidance explaining how Government departments should take into account the social impacts of competing suppliers as well as environmental factors for certain procurements involving steel.

In April 2016, Government announced that the guidance on procuring steel would be extended to the wider public sector. We are working with key stakeholders to take this forward so that we can maximise take-up of the guidance across the wider public sector.

As local government procurement policy is a devolved matter, it is for the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to determine how they will conduct any assessment for their local authorities.