Defence Procurement: Steel Industry
The following is an extract from Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence on 12 September 2016.
Now that Government Departments are mandated to provide information about the proportion of UK steel used in the Crown Commercial Service, will the Minister please tell the House what percentage of UK steel is used in current defence projects and what percentage will be used in future?
The hon. Lady rightly speaks up for steel production in her constituency. She will be very pleased to know that, for the largest project that the UK Government have ever procured that uses steel—she will be aware that that is the carrier programme currently under construction on the Clyde—the vast majority comes from Tata Steel. I believe it is 94%.
[Official Report, 12 September 2016, Vol. 614, c. 586.]
Letter of correction from Harriett Baldwin:
An error has been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for Neath (Christina Rees) during Questions to the Secretary of State for Defence.
The correct response should have been:
The hon. Lady rightly speaks up for steel production in her constituency. She will be very pleased to know that, for the largest project that the UK Government have ever procured that uses steel—she will be aware that that is the carrier programme currently under construction in Rosyth—the vast majority comes from Tata Steel. I believe it is 95,000 tonnes.