Procurement Bill [HL]
Debate between Lord Wallace of Saltaire and Baroness WorthingtonWednesday 13th July 2022
(2 years, 4 months ago)
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Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
Perhaps he would care to consider whether paragraph (c) should be reduced in length, because if my suggestion would be too specific, then paragraph (c) is already much too specific, and we had better cut it down.
Baroness Worthington (CB)
Sorry to interrupt, but just to clarify, it seems to me that the reference to “maximising public benefit” in the Bill is completely and utterly superfluous and has no meaning. The Minister’s response has further confirmed that the only criteria that can really be taken into account are value for money and cost. We will need to return to this at Report, because it now seems very clear that this is not an accident or some kind of desire for flexibility; it is really saying that there is only one thing that counts, and that is cost—and in the short term.