The government today (October 9) publishes its updated public steel procurement documents, which show that the reported proportion of steel procured within the UK has nearly doubled since last year.

These documents include information on how much steel has been procured by government departments and arm’s-length bodies, and how they have complied with guidance - as well as a pipeline of future steel requirements for national infrastructure projects.

This year’s documents show that:

• all government departments complied with steel procurement guidance, where applicable
• the reported proportion of steel procured within the UK for public projects is 77% - up from 40% last year
• the reported value of contracts placed with UK suppliers has increased by 20% - from £67 million to £81 million
• there is an estimated steel requirement of nearly 5 million tonnes of steel associated with central government infrastructure plans over the next decade

Wide-ranging action to support the steel industry includes more than £480 million relief for electricity costs since 2013 and providing guidance to ensure British steel makers have the best chance of competing for and winning public sector projects.

See Steel public procurement 2020 for the full data.