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516161

registered interest
date	27/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Iron and Steel: Redundancy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of the cessation of downstream steel operations at Llanwern on further redundancies in that region.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35943
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2016 answer text <p>The Government recognises the considerable impact that a closure of Tata Steel UK’s facilities at Llanwern would have on its employees, their families and the communities in which they live. That is why we are working closely with Tata to find a credible buyer for their entire UK operation. Our interests are to support Tata Steel and the wider industry, secure as many jobs as we can and deliver a sustainable future.</p><p>On 21 April, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills announced that a package of support worth hundreds of millions of pounds would be made available to potential buyers on commercial terms to support the ongoing operation and deliver long term investment in the future of the business. We will also consider support in other areas such as plant, pensions and power supply, and any other areas that potential buyers believe the Government can provide support.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 03/05/2016 15:14:25 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515721

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Antidumping: China
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has made to the World Trade Organisation to request that anti-dumping measures are taken against the People's Republic of China.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35630
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2016 answer text <p>The World Trade Organisation does not have a role in conducting anti-dumping investigations. Responsibility for anti-dumping investigations and imposing anti-dumping measures against imports into the EU and the UK lies with the European Commission. These investigations are driven by requests from EU producers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government makes regular representations to the Commission concerning allegations of dumping of steel. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister pressed for more action on dumping of steel at European Council on 17 and 18 March. The government judges each anti-dumping case on its merits, based on the evidence presented by the Commission and on representations from interested parties, including producers, users and importers, but is strongly in favour of effective trade defences to tackle unfair trade practices where justified. We have voted in favour of anti-dumping measures on several steel products since July, including the imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures on reinforcing bar in January, an investigation for which we lobbied the Commission successfully, and on cold-rolled flat steel products in February.</p><p> </p><p>We have supported industry calls for higher duties on specific cases where this is justified by the evidence. For example, in the reinforcing bar case we have raised the steel industry’s concerns that the provisional duties were too low with the Commission. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Trade Commissioner Malmström about this and received assurances that the Commission will reconsider this during the definitive stage of the investigation, if industry can provide the necessary evidence.</p><p> </p><p>We also welcomed the opening of four new anti-dumping investigations involving steel products earlier this year.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to push the Commission for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel. This was one of the conclusions of the Extraordinary Competitiveness Council on Steel in November, a meeting which my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was instrumental in convening. In advance of the Commission’s energy-intensive industry stakeholder’s summit on 15 February – another key action from the Competitiveness Council – the government and several other EU Member States sent a joint letter to the Commission, pressing it to make full and timely use of all trade defence instruments to tackle unfair trade. I played an active role at this summit. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has also raised these issues in discussions with Commissioner Malmström, most recently at the OECD conference on the challenges facing the steel industry on 18 April. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) (Intellectual Property) reiterated the need for faster and more effective action on dumping at the Competitiveness Council held on 29 February and the Presidency conclusions of that Council reflected this message. I did likewise at the European Steel Day on 21 April. Officials also have regular discussions about anti-dumping cases with Commission officials and officials from other EU Member States.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also supporting a robust discussion of the issue of overcapacity through the EU’s ongoing dialogue with the Chinese and other governments, including at the OECD conference. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has discussed this issue directly with President Xi and was told that China will take steps to reduce its overcapacity. My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer also raised it during his visit to China in February and my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills raised it with his counterpart in February. Similarly, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs raised it during his visit to China in April.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry grouped question UIN 35633 question first answered 05/05/2016 16:52:32 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515722

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Iron and Steel: China
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many metric tonnes of Chinese rebar steel have been imported into the UK in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35631
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2016 answer text <p>The volume of rebar steel imported to the UK from China during the period 2011-2015 was as follows:</p><p> </p><p><strong>Year Metric Tonnes </strong></p><p>2011 6</p><p>2012 2</p><p>2013 47,803</p><p>2014 254,584</p><p>2015 365,449</p><p>Source:HMRC</p><p> </p><p>For 2016, data from the EU’s Steel Surveillance 2[1] Monitoring System indicates that 43 tonnes were imported to the UK during the first quarter.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>[1] The Surveillance 2 system collects data directly from import customs declarations. This data relates to the reference of the customs declaration, the nature of the goods, their origin, their volume, their value and their date of acceptance by the customs administration (actual import date). Records are sent daily by the central systems of the customs administrations of the EU Member States. It is based on article 308d of the implementing provisions of the Custom Code (Regulation 2454/93</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 05/05/2016 16:42:40 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515723

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Tata Steel
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the UK could act unilaterally to take an equity stake greater than 25 per cent in Tata Steel while being a member of the EU.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35632
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/05/2016 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 12/05/2016 12:42:08 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515724

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Iron and Steel: Imports
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the UK has taken to support increased tariffs on artificially cheap steel imports to the EU.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35633
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2016 answer text <p>The World Trade Organisation does not have a role in conducting anti-dumping investigations. Responsibility for anti-dumping investigations and imposing anti-dumping measures against imports into the EU and the UK lies with the European Commission. These investigations are driven by requests from EU producers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government makes regular representations to the Commission concerning allegations of dumping of steel. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister pressed for more action on dumping of steel at European Council on 17 and 18 March. The government judges each anti-dumping case on its merits, based on the evidence presented by the Commission and on representations from interested parties, including producers, users and importers, but is strongly in favour of effective trade defences to tackle unfair trade practices where justified. We have voted in favour of anti-dumping measures on several steel products since July, including the imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures on reinforcing bar in January, an investigation for which we lobbied the Commission successfully, and on cold-rolled flat steel products in February.</p><p> </p><p>We have supported industry calls for higher duties on specific cases where this is justified by the evidence. For example, in the reinforcing bar case we have raised the steel industry’s concerns that the provisional duties were too low with the Commission. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Trade Commissioner Malmström about this and received assurances that the Commission will reconsider this during the definitive stage of the investigation, if industry can provide the necessary evidence.</p><p> </p><p>We also welcomed the opening of four new anti-dumping investigations involving steel products earlier this year.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to push the Commission for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel. This was one of the conclusions of the Extraordinary Competitiveness Council on Steel in November, a meeting which my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was instrumental in convening. In advance of the Commission’s energy-intensive industry stakeholder’s summit on 15 February – another key action from the Competitiveness Council – the government and several other EU Member States sent a joint letter to the Commission, pressing it to make full and timely use of all trade defence instruments to tackle unfair trade. I played an active role at this summit. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has also raised these issues in discussions with Commissioner Malmström, most recently at the OECD conference on the challenges facing the steel industry on 18 April. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) (Intellectual Property) reiterated the need for faster and more effective action on dumping at the Competitiveness Council held on 29 February and the Presidency conclusions of that Council reflected this message. I did likewise at the European Steel Day on 21 April. Officials also have regular discussions about anti-dumping cases with Commission officials and officials from other EU Member States.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also supporting a robust discussion of the issue of overcapacity through the EU’s ongoing dialogue with the Chinese and other governments, including at the OECD conference. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has discussed this issue directly with President Xi and was told that China will take steps to reduce its overcapacity. My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer also raised it during his visit to China in February and my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills raised it with his counterpart in February. Similarly, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs raised it during his visit to China in April.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry grouped question UIN 35630 question first answered 05/05/2016 16:52:32 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515731

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Iron and Steel: China
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the dumping of Chinese steel in the UK at below-market prices.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35681
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/05/2016 answer text <p>Responsibility for anti-dumping investigations and imposing anti-dumping measures against imports into the EU and the UK lies with the European Commission. These investigations are driven by requests from EU producers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government makes regular representations to the Commission concerning allegations of dumping of steel. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister pressed for more action on dumping of steel at European Council on 17 and 18 March. The government judges each anti-dumping case on its merits, based on the evidence presented by the Commission and on representations from interested parties, including producers, users and importers, but is strongly in favour of effective trade defences to tackle unfair trade practices where justified. We have voted in favour of anti-dumping measures on several steel products since July, including the imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures on reinforcing bar in January, an investigation for which we lobbied the Commission successfully, and on cold-rolled flat steel products in February.</p><p> </p><p>We have supported industry calls for higher duties on specific cases where this is justified by the evidence. For example, in the reinforcing bar case we have raised the steel industry’s concerns that the provisional duties were too low with the Commission. My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Trade Commissioner Malmström about this and received assurances that the Commission will reconsider this during the definitive stage of the investigation, if industry can provide the necessary evidence.</p><p> </p><p>We also welcomed the opening of four new anti-dumping investigations involving steel products earlier this year.</p><p> </p><p>The government continues to push the Commission for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel. This was one of the conclusions of the Extraordinary Competitiveness Council on Steel in November, a meeting which my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was instrumental in convening. In advance of the Commission’s energy-intensive industry stakeholder’s summit on 15 February – another key action from the Competitiveness Council – the government and several other EU Member States sent a joint letter to the Commission, pressing it to make full and timely use of all trade defence instruments to tackle unfair trade. I played an active role at this summit. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has also raised these issues in discussions with Commissioner Malmström, most recently at the OECD conference on the challenges facing the steel industry on 18 April. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Minister for Intellectual Property reiterated the need for faster and more effective action on dumping at the Competitiveness Council held on 29 February and the Presidency conclusions of that Council reflected this message. I did likewise at the European Steel Day on 21 April. Officials also have regular discussions about anti-dumping cases with Commission officials and officials from other EU Member States.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also supporting a robust discussion of the issue of overcapacity through the EU’s ongoing dialogue with the Chinese and other governments, including at the OECD conference. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has discussed this issue directly with President Xi and was told that China will take steps to reduce its overcapacity. My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer also raised it during his visit to China in February and My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills raised it with his counterpart in February. Similarly, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs raised it during his visit to China in April.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry grouped question UIN 35682 question first answered 04/05/2016 14:15:49 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515733

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Iron and Steel: China
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has made to the EU on the dumping of cheap Chinese steel in western European markets.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35682
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/05/2016 answer text <p>Responsibility for anti-dumping investigations and imposing anti-dumping measures against imports into the EU and the UK lies with the European Commission. These investigations are driven by requests from EU producers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government makes regular representations to the Commission concerning allegations of dumping of steel. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister pressed for more action on dumping of steel at European Council on 17 and 18 March. The government judges each anti-dumping case on its merits, based on the evidence presented by the Commission and on representations from interested parties, including producers, users and importers, but is strongly in favour of effective trade defences to tackle unfair trade practices where justified. We have voted in favour of anti-dumping measures on several steel products since July, including the imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures on reinforcing bar in January, an investigation for which we lobbied the Commission successfully, and on cold-rolled flat steel products in February.</p><p> </p><p>We have supported industry calls for higher duties on specific cases where this is justified by the evidence. For example, in the reinforcing bar case we have raised the steel industry’s concerns that the provisional duties were too low with the Commission. My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Trade Commissioner Malmström about this and received assurances that the Commission will reconsider this during the definitive stage of the investigation, if industry can provide the necessary evidence.</p><p> </p><p>We also welcomed the opening of four new anti-dumping investigations involving steel products earlier this year.</p><p> </p><p>The government continues to push the Commission for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel. This was one of the conclusions of the Extraordinary Competitiveness Council on Steel in November, a meeting which my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was instrumental in convening. In advance of the Commission’s energy-intensive industry stakeholder’s summit on 15 February – another key action from the Competitiveness Council – the government and several other EU Member States sent a joint letter to the Commission, pressing it to make full and timely use of all trade defence instruments to tackle unfair trade. I played an active role at this summit. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has also raised these issues in discussions with Commissioner Malmström, most recently at the OECD conference on the challenges facing the steel industry on 18 April. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Minister for Intellectual Property reiterated the need for faster and more effective action on dumping at the Competitiveness Council held on 29 February and the Presidency conclusions of that Council reflected this message. I did likewise at the European Steel Day on 21 April. Officials also have regular discussions about anti-dumping cases with Commission officials and officials from other EU Member States.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also supporting a robust discussion of the issue of overcapacity through the EU’s ongoing dialogue with the Chinese and other governments, including at the OECD conference. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has discussed this issue directly with President Xi and was told that China will take steps to reduce its overcapacity. My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer also raised it during his visit to China in February and My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills raised it with his counterpart in February. Similarly, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs raised it during his visit to China in April.</p> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry grouped question UIN 35681 question first answered 04/05/2016 14:15:49 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell

515735

registered interest
date	26/04/2016
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Energy: Industry
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make a comparative assessment of energy costs for heavy industry in the UK and in other EU countries.
tabling member constituency	Clacton
tabling member printed	Mr Douglas Carswell
uin	35693
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/05/2016 answer text <p>UK industrial gas prices are among the lowest in Europe, while electricity prices are among the highest. Industrial energy use overall is split relatively evenly between electricity, gas and other fuels.</p><p> </p><p>We are addressing the fundamental causes of the UK’s relatively high electricity costs, through:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>Short-term cost control measures, including the Levy Control Framework actions on solar and onshore wind, announced in summer 2015;</p></li><li><p>Longer term measures including investment in new energy infrastructure (such as nuclear); and interconnection with French, Belgian and Norwegian networks which should help to reduce the difference between the electricity prices here and in Continental Europe.</p><p> </p></li></ul> answering member constituency Broxtowe answering member printed Anna Soubry question first answered 04/05/2016 15:19:37 answering member 3938 label Biography information for Anna Soubry
tabling member	1527 label Biography information for Mr Douglas Carswell