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 impact of current (a) tax, (b) carbon and (c) regulatory requirements on retention of heavy industry in the UK.

While no specific assessment on the impact of existing tax, regulatory or carbon-related costs on retention of UK heavy industry has been conducted, the Government regularly engages with relevant heavy industry trade associations and businesses to consider potential policy support, sectoral challenges affecting competitiveness, and the impact of existing or planned policy and regulatory implementation on industry. The Government also delivers the British Industry Supercharger and Energy-Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme which aim to mitigate carbon leakage and improve competitiveness of eligible energy-intensive manufacturing industries by relieving them from electricity policy costs, network costs and indirect carbon costs.