Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the amount and proportion of imported steel from (a) China and (b) other countries that will be used in the Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) project; whether he has had recent discussions with NZT Power on steel procurement; and what steps he is taking to maximise UK steel content in major infrastructure projects.

The Government knows how important the use of UK made steel is to communities across the country. We are ambitious about increasing the use of UK made steel in UK energy and infrastructure projects where possible. We will publish a steel strategy this year which will set out our vision for a bright and sustainable future for steel in the UK.

UK company William Hare, alongside Chinese company Modern Heavy Industries, was awarded the contract for fabricated steel structures following a competitive procurement process by NZT Power’s Tier 1 contractor.

The procurement is not public procurement. Specific contract information is a commercially sensitive matter for NZT Power and their Tier 1 contractor.

I have met with the project developer to understand more about the use of UK made and non-UK made steel, as well as the wider use of UK local content, in the NZT 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.

My officials and I will continue to actively engage and work collaboratively with the CCUS industry to promote an industry-led voluntary ambition of 50% UK local content. We are also actively looking at ways to drive further investments into UK CCUS supply chains.