Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current value of Government departments' directly procured construction contracts where project bank accounts are being used, as recommended in the Construction Playbook.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Construction Playbook reiterates the government's approach to procuring construction projects to maximise value for money and deliver high quality outcomes. The Playbook is clear that contracting authorities should use project bank accounts unless there are compelling reasons not to. The Cabinet Office does not collect information centrally on the value of contracts that use project bank accounts.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the provision of services into the EU by UK citizens living in (1) EU, (2) EEA and (3) EFTA, countries; and what steps they intend to take to reduce or offset that impact.
Answered by Lord Frost
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and the UK free trade agreement with the EEA-EFTA states, provide for a wide variety of obligations regarding the treatment by one Party of investors, services suppliers and natural persons of the other Party. Some of these provisions may be affected by the place of residence of the natural person in question, and the legal position will depend on the details of each specific case. UK citizens will need to check whether and how the provisions apply to them.
Government routinely publishes a wide range of analysis on the UK economy. Other bodies, such as the Office for Budget Responsibility, also regularly publish economic analysis on the impact of the UK's trade deal with the EU.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the terms of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the provision of services into the European Union apply equally to UK citizens living in (1) EU, (2) EEA and (3) EFTA, countries, so that they can provide services outside their host state.
Answered by Lord Frost
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and the UK free trade agreement with the EEA-EFTA states, provide for a wide variety of obligations regarding the treatment by one Party of investors, services suppliers and natural persons of the other Party. Some of these provisions may be affected by the place of residence of the natural person in question, and the legal position will depend on the details of each specific case. UK citizens will need to check whether and how the provisions apply to them.
Government routinely publishes a wide range of analysis on the UK economy. Other bodies, such as the Office for Budget Responsibility, also regularly publish economic analysis on the impact of the UK's trade deal with the EU.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to monitor (1) adoption of, and (2) compliance with, the Construction Playbook by (a) departments, and (b) their arm’s-length bodies.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Construction Playbook, published in December 2020, includes 14 key policy reforms which will help government and industry work better together to deliver quality public works and value for money. It applies to all central government departments and their ALBs on a ‘comply or explain’ basis and we have strengthened approvals processes, including Cabinet Office controls for projects over £10m total value and the Treasury approvals process, to ensure compliance.
We recognise that this will be a journey and adoption will be demonstrated through ‘faster, better, greener’ public works achieved by a greater proportion of projects applying the Playbook over time and support will be provided to departments and ALBs to embed the Construction Playbook into their public works projects and programmes.
We are committed to annually reviewing the content of the Construction Playbook including working to facilitate prompt, fair and effective payment practices throughout the supply chain. The use of Project Bank Accounts is required unless there are compelling reasons not to do so and the Prompt Payment Measure allows contracting authorities to exclude suppliers on the basis of poor payment performance. At this time we do not have any plans to provide additional guidance on cash retentions specifically.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to add any guidance on retentions to the Construction Playbook when it is next reviewed.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Construction Playbook, published in December 2020, includes 14 key policy reforms which will help government and industry work better together to deliver quality public works and value for money. It applies to all central government departments and their ALBs on a ‘comply or explain’ basis and we have strengthened approvals processes, including Cabinet Office controls for projects over £10m total value and the Treasury approvals process, to ensure compliance.
We recognise that this will be a journey and adoption will be demonstrated through ‘faster, better, greener’ public works achieved by a greater proportion of projects applying the Playbook over time and support will be provided to departments and ALBs to embed the Construction Playbook into their public works projects and programmes.
We are committed to annually reviewing the content of the Construction Playbook including working to facilitate prompt, fair and effective payment practices throughout the supply chain. The use of Project Bank Accounts is required unless there are compelling reasons not to do so and the Prompt Payment Measure allows contracting authorities to exclude suppliers on the basis of poor payment performance. At this time we do not have any plans to provide additional guidance on cash retentions specifically.
Asked by: Lord Aberdare (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which government construction procurers comply with Regulation 113 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 which gives public sector bodies a statutory duty to ensure that 30-day payment clauses are inserted in all sub-contracts and sub-sub-contracts.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
This information is not held centrally. Individual contracting authorities are responsible for complying with Regulation 113 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 on relevant procurements. Businesses are encouraged to report instances of late or unfair payment in public sector contracts to the Public Procurement Review Service.