Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage UK firms and manufacturers to use British steel.

The Department is actively supporting the UK steel sector to ensure it is in the best position to benefit from future market opportunities, including domestic opportunities which are estimated to be worth £3.8 billion a year by 2030.

We have published a steel pipeline signalling upcoming steel requirements for national infrastructure, which are estimated to require around 5 million tonnes of steel over the next decade.

We have established a new joint industry and BEIS Steel Procurement Taskforce (launched on 12 March) with the aim of working with the sector to promote the unique selling points of UK steel and explore how best to support and position the industry for success in forthcoming major public contracts.