Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what incentives the Government (a) has implemented and (b) is considering to encourage local authorities to promote the use of UK steel in procurement contracts.

The Government is working hard to make sure that UK producers of steel have the best possible chance of competing for and winning contracts across all Government procurement

In 2019, BEIS published information from departments and their arm’s-length bodies on how much steel they have procured over the last financial year and how they have applied the steel procurement guidance.

All Government departments and arms-length bodies are required to consider socio-economic and environmental factors when procuring steel.

BEIS also published an update of the Steel Pipeline, signalling upcoming steel requirements for national infrastructure projects.

In December 2017 BEIS published independent research that identified high value market opportunities for UK steel producers, worth up to £3.8 billion a year by 2030. We are actively encouraging the UK steel sector to invest in their capacity and capability to enable them to grasp these opportunities.