Oral Answers to Questions

Debbie Abrahams Excerpts

Thursday 18th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

2. Whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of public procurement processes under covid-19 emergency regulations.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

9. Whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of public procurement processes under covid-19 emergency regulations.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Alex Burghart)]

There are well established procedures in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for handling emergency procurements, which enable the Government to procure lifesaving goods and expertise. We followed those procedures in order to save lives as fast as we could during the worst pandemic in living memory. The Procurement Act 2023, which has just passed both Houses of Parliament, will introduce faster competition processes for emergency buying, reducing the reliance on direct awards while retaining and improving transparency, and the ability to act at pace in situations similar to the covid pandemic.

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[Mr Speaker]

If the Minister has to say it for a fourth time, I hope that we will not get the attention we are receiving today.

[Debbie Abrahams]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi). In spite of the Minister’s protestations, the evidence is to the contrary —[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We do not need the Parliamentary Private Secretary chipping in. Is that understood?

[Mr Speaker]

Thank you.

[Debbie Abrahams]

The fact that Ministers’ mates can get these lucrative contracts, as last month’s evidence showed, while tens of thousands of our constituents struggle to put food on the table is an absolute disgrace. Of the £12.6 billion-worth of personal protective equipment contracts let in 2020, will the Minister confirm—I have evidence on this, so I advise him to choose his language carefully—that up to a third were fraudulent, or the result of profiteering or conflicts of interest?

[Alex Burghart]

I would be very interested to see the hon. Lady’s evidence. Where there is evidence of fraud, we will of course go after that, as we have done so in a number of high-profile cases. Where investigations are ongoing, we will recoup as much money as we can for the British taxpayer.