Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department attended the Scottish Steel Task Force meeting on (i) 29 January 2015, (ii) 13 November 2015, (iii) 26 November 2015, (iv) 11 December 2015 and (v) 14 January 2016.

As the hon Member knows from our discussions on this issue, Scotland Office Ministers have taken a close interest in this matter, including meeting with BIS Ministers to discuss the impact of Tata Steel closures in Scotland. While Scotland Office Ministers have not attended the Taskforce, the Scotland Office has been represented by officials at all of the Scottish Steel Taskforce meetings to date.

In addition, we have worked with BIS colleagues to ensure that Scottish Government officials have been able to fully participate in the three UK working groups, and Scottish Government have been invited to be part of the newly formed Steel Council.