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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department plans to take to extend the levels of support being given to the aluminium industry to the same level as that given to the steel industry.

The actions taken by the Government to support the steel sector, for example in respect of support for Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) with their energy costs, will also benefit the UK aluminium industry. We have paid nearly £2.8 million compensation to date to companies producing aluminium since the EU Emissions Trading System and Carbon Price Support schemes began.

We look forward to the Aluminium Federation’s constructive involvement in establishing the Metals Council, which will work with Government to address opportunities and challenges facing the UK metals sectors. The Metals Council is an outcome from the Metals Strategy, to which both the Aluminium and Steel sectors provided key contributions.