Recommendation 6

The Department could not explain to us how much funding may be required or how much of the government’s £2.5 billion commitment to the steel sector remains available once support for British Steel is taken into account. The Department also could not clearly set out how it will work across government and industry to deliver the wider conditions needed for a competitive steel sector, including coherent policies on affordable energy, skills, decarbonisation, research and development, access to iron and scrap, and investment in future technologies. Nor could it set out a clear plan for securing future iron supply or assessing the role of hydrogen- powered Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) production in supporting the transition to green steel. Without a clear implementation plan, there is a risk that the strategy will not deliver the transformation needed to secure a competitive and sustainable future for the UK steel industry. recommendation Once the new spending review period has been completed, the Department should write to the Committee to set out: a. an implementation plan for the steel strategy, including target dates and volumes for domestic steel production, how allocation of the overall £2.5bn funding commitment will be spent on each initiative, the indicative milestones and delivery timelines, and arrangements for monitoring progress; b. how it will coordinate delivery of the steel strategy to ensure policy coherence across government (for example, the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero on energy policy and decarbonisation and the Department for Education on skills); and c. a plan for scrap metal which would be required for new electric furnaces and an assessment of the economic viability of establishing a hydrogen-powered DRI plant in the UK. This should highlight the costs and benefits of ensuring access to a secure supply of iron in the UK. d. what plans it has to involve private sector investment