Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the procurement of UK-made steel is prioritised in infrastructure projects financially supported by the Government.

As a member of the World Trade Organisation’s plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the UK cannot set procurement targets for public projects or any measures which favour, or indirectly discriminate in favour of, UK products or suppliers.

However, we have worked with the sector to progress the recommendations of the Steel Procurement Taskforce, published on 22 February 2022, looking at how government and industry can work together to help the steel sector best position itself for success in public contracts. Most of the recommendations have been addressed through the updated Public Procurement Note (PPN), published in April 2023, which reflects changes to commercial best practice, commercial policy and business case appraisals while clarifying the scope of reporting requirements on steel origin data.