Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the support available for UK-based downstream steel companies that are seeking to decarbonise their industrial processes.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We are developing a suite of policies to enable industry, including UK-based downstream steel companies, to deliver savings through fuel switching from fossil fuels to low carbon alternatives. As we do so, we are closely engaging with industry, both with sector trade associations as well as with manufacturers directly, to identify and understand the challenges, barriers and costs of their decarbonisation pathways. For example, we published a summary of responses to our Call for evidence on Enabling Industrial Electrification in September 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/enabling-industrial-electrification-a-call-for-evidence).

To give longer-term confidence for industry to decarbonise, a renewed Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy will set the strategic direction for our approach to working with industry towards a competitive and low carbon industrial base in the UK, ensuring growth opportunities are captured in tandem with emissions reductions.

More widely, we are determined to work towards a bright future for steel through our steel strategy. The Government stands by our manifesto commitment to invest up to £2.5bn in steel through the National Wealth Fund and other routes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of (a) taxi and (b) private hire vehicles that use number plates that do not conform with regulations.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, various police forces and Trading Standards in relation to the supply and use of illegal number plates as well as number plates with raised characters, commonly known as ‘4D plates’. Some 4D plates can also be described as ‘ghost’ plates where the characters are constructed from materials that are unable to be read by infrared Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems. Work is currently ongoing to quantify the number of illegal plates that may be in circulation, which would include on taxis and private hire vehicles.