Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential impact on steelwork fabricators of products classified under HS code 7308.90 being eligible for support under the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme with businesses operating under SIC code 2511 are ineligible.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
BICS is a targeted scheme designed to support a defined group of sectors within the Industrial Strategy, where electricity cost relief is expected to have the greatest impact on growth in its agreed cost envelope. A multi-stage review process was undertaken to assess relevant codes, which included reviewing codes suggested from consultation responses. There is no scope to amend the eligibility criteria of this scheme ahead of the scheme commencing in April 2027.
The Government nevertheless recognises the importance of steelwork fabricators to UK supply chains and remains committed to supporting and strengthening the wider steel sector. In March we published the UK's first ever Steel Strategy, backed by up to £2.5 billion to rebuild the sector and strengthen UK steelmaking.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making steelwork fabricators operating under SIC code 2511 eligible for support under the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
BICS is a targeted scheme designed to support a defined group of sectors within the Industrial Strategy, where electricity cost relief is expected to have the greatest impact on growth in its agreed cost envelope. A multi-stage review process was undertaken to assess relevant codes, which included reviewing codes suggested from consultation responses. There is no scope to amend the eligibility criteria of this scheme ahead of the scheme commencing in April 2027.
The Government nevertheless recognises the importance of steelwork fabricators to UK supply chains and remains committed to supporting and strengthening the wider steel sector. In March we published the UK's first ever Steel Strategy, backed by up to £2.5 billion to rebuild the sector and strengthen UK steelmaking.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that patients with pancreatic cancer are automatically linked to available clinical trials.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to the Hon Member for Stratford-on-Avon on 15 July 2026 in response to Question 16704.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to clinical trials for people with pancreatic cancer.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to the Hon Member for Stratford-on-Avon on 15 July 2026 in response to Question 16704.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how frequently the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency audits approved providers delivering Module 3A of the HGV driving test; and how many providers have been found not to meet the required standards in each year since 2021.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Module 3a providers are subject to Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) quality assurance audits. These are ordinarily conducted on an annual basis and include checks of organisational controls, records, processes and assessor standards. Where non-compliance is identified, DVSA may require corrective action, undertake follow-up activity or, in serious or repeated cases, withdraw approval. Fewer than 10 organisations have had their approval withdrawn for non-compliance during the last five years.
Officials continue to engage regularly with representatives of the haulage, training and other relevant sectors on vocational driver testing and licensing matters.
The Post-Implementation Review of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2021 was published in 2025. The review concluded that the removal of staged access to Category C+E licences had been successful in reducing vocational test waiting times and improving access to testing opportunities. It found no evidence that the change had adversely affected road safety and recommended that the regulations be retained.
The removal of staged access to Category C+E licences is now well established across the sector and has become the standard approach for the training and testing of drivers seeking Category C+E entitlement.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions her Department has had with haulage businesses, training providers, insurers, and industry bodies on the impact of the 2021 removal of staged access to Category C+E HGV licences.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Module 3a providers are subject to Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) quality assurance audits. These are ordinarily conducted on an annual basis and include checks of organisational controls, records, processes and assessor standards. Where non-compliance is identified, DVSA may require corrective action, undertake follow-up activity or, in serious or repeated cases, withdraw approval. Fewer than 10 organisations have had their approval withdrawn for non-compliance during the last five years.
Officials continue to engage regularly with representatives of the haulage, training and other relevant sectors on vocational driver testing and licensing matters.
The Post-Implementation Review of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2021 was published in 2025. The review concluded that the removal of staged access to Category C+E licences had been successful in reducing vocational test waiting times and improving access to testing opportunities. It found no evidence that the change had adversely affected road safety and recommended that the regulations be retained.
The removal of staged access to Category C+E licences is now well established across the sector and has become the standard approach for the training and testing of drivers seeking Category C+E entitlement.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will consider bringing the Contracts for Difference Scheme under the remit of the Procurement Policy Note for Steel and the national security clauses of the Procurement Act.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As set out in the recent UK Steel Strategy, the Clean Industry Bonus element of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme rewards offshore wind developers if they use UK steel in their projects. There are currently no plans to bring the CfD scheme under the remit of the Procurement policy note for steel, and the National clauses of the Procurement Act 2023.
The Department is committed to working closely across Government and industry stakeholders to take forward the actions needed to develop supply chains that are resilient, sustainable, innovative and secure.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of restricting the UK CBAM to primary materials on imports of finished steel goods.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
For the introduction of the CBAM in 2027, the Government has focused on three factors to determine its scope: firstly, those sectors within scope of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme; secondly, those most at risk of carbon leakage; and thirdly, where effective implementation is feasible. As a result, for now we have focused on including the simplest (upstream) goods within the iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser and hydrogen sectors and the Government’s priority is to deliver an effective CBAM on these sectors for 1 January 2027.
The government will keep the list of products in scope of CBAM under review from 2027 onwards, to reflect the evolving carbon leakage context.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reviewing public procurement policy to (a) incentivise and (b) require greater use of UK-made steel in publicly funding projects in the context of the decision of the Net Zero Teesside Power contract.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government knows it is important to communities across the country that we use UK-made steel. We are ambitious about increasing the use of UK made steel in UK energy and infrastructure projects where possible.
Net Zero Teesside is not a public procurement (so public procurement guidelines do not apply) but we have spoken to the project developer to understand more about the use of UK and non-UK steel, as well as the wider use of UK local content, in the project. They confirmed their voluntary commitment to achieve more than 50% UK content across the value chain, with around £1billion UK-based sub-contracts already awarded.
We want to champion UK steelmaking and our steel communities now and for generations to come and my colleagues at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are looking at how greater UK content will be used in future projects.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will expand the Energy Supercharger package to include a larger proportion of the steel industry and related sectors, including scrap.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government remains committed to ensuring British businesses are internationally competitive and I recognise the pressure that energy costs place on the steel industry and related sectors.
A number of firms supporting the wider steel industry are currently eligible for the British Industry Supercharger and are benefiting from the recent uplift to the Network Charging Compensation Scheme. The Supercharger is being reviewed this year, and I encourage scrap and wider metals sectors to engage with the upcoming review.
The recovery of sorted material will become an eligible sector under the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme which will provide exemptions from April 2027.