PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries (16 December 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will set out the exemptions and compensation for the steel industry, and the dates from which each will apply, announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Asked by:
Stephen Doughty (Labour)

On 14 December, the EU Commission approved our first state aid case - to commence relief from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation (RO) and small-scale Feed-in-Tariff (FiT). Eligible companies will be able to apply for compensation in January 2016, once scheme guidance and application forms have been published. The second state aid case - to compensate competitors of eligible Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) - is currently being considered by the Commission.

The Government is expected to pay compensation for RO/FiT costs until the exemption is implemented - the aim is to achieve that from 2017-18.

This is in addition to the £50 million of support the Government has already given to the steel industry to mitigate the impact of climate change policies.

This relief from energy costs will save industry hundreds of millions of pounds and will give the UK Steel Industry greater certainty around energy costs for the life of the Parliament.

Answered by:
Anna Soubry (The Independent Group for Change)
5 January 2016