Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee

Recommendation 29

Fourth Report - Liberty Steel and the future of the UK steel Industry Published 5 Nov 2021 Paragraph 146 Addressed to Department for Business and Trade

Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Liberty Steel and the Future of the UK Steel Industry All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Recommendation (the committee's words)

High-quality data will be essential for monitoring and improving compliance with steel procurement policy. However, this data is currently incomplete with only partial data being reported by Government Departments and Arm’s Length Bodies. We welcome the work of the Steel Procurement Taskforce in working to improve the quality of this data. However, at the very least, all Government projects should be fully reporting on the value and origin of their steel requirements.

From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Fourth Report - Liberty Steel and the future of the UK steel Industry (HC 821), paragraph 146, 5 November 2021

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 20 January 2022 (deadline 5 January 2022).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government responds to the committee's report by engaging with many recommendations, stating it recognises the importance of the steel sector, while declining to comment in detail on matters under live investigation and stating that UK steel content targets would breach its international obligations.

On corporate structures, the government "agrees that those structures should not be a legal barrier to proper scrutiny" and "is considering whether" to let ARGA investigate cases of exceptional public interest as part of its planned reform of audit and corporate governance.
On the Insolvency Service, BEIS has asked it to work with the Serious Fraud Office to review available information "to determine if it is appropriate" for it to undertake an investigation.
On minimum UK steel content targets for public projects, the government states that such targets or measures favouring UK suppliers "constitutes a breach of the UK's international obligations" under the Agreement on Government Procurement.
On a steel Sector Deal, the government does not commit to one; it says it will continue working with the Steel Council and "will carefully consider" the Council's recommendations once it sees its report.

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