Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to Question 25193 tabled by the hon. Member for West Worcestershire on 21 January 2025.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A response to Question 25193 is being prepared and will be provided as soon as possible. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many public procurement contracts issued by the Crown Commercial Service have included mandatory commitments to trade union recognition since July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Individual contracting authorities are responsible for defining their relationships with trade unions.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff in his Department were working on new free trade agreements in February 2025.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

DBT’s Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations (TPIN) Group operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across priorities. DBT has committed to delivering six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations alongside leading work on the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, work on the U.S., the reset of the UK-EU relationship as well as multilateral, implementation and market access work.

FTA staff numbers vary depending on the stage and scale of the deal. However, in July 2024, DBT had 640 staff working in TPIN and in January 2025 this number is 675.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff in his Department were working on new free trade agreements in July 2024.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

DBT’s Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations (TPIN) Group operates a flexible resourcing model to maximise efficiency across priorities. DBT has committed to delivering six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations alongside leading work on the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, work on the U.S., the reset of the UK-EU relationship as well as multilateral, implementation and market access work.

FTA staff numbers vary depending on the stage and scale of the deal. However, in July 2024, DBT had 640 staff working in TPIN and in January 2025 this number is 675.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has adopted trade union representation requirements in their procurement processes since July 2024.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government procurement processes apply all applicable legislation and published procurement policy set by the Cabinet Office. MHCLG has regard for the National Procurement Policy Statement which drives procurement to deliver Government Missions. The Social Value Model for procurement includes Fair Work criteria including criteria linked to Fair Working conditions and Trade Union representation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement published on 13 February 2025, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that supplier requirements include statutory sick pay from day one in healthcare contracts.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Procurement Policy Statement states that contracting authorities should ensure that their suppliers are committed to providing high quality jobs, safe and healthy working conditions, fair pay, and opportunity and progression for their workers.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is the minimum amount an employer is required to pay to their employee when they are sick, where the employee meets the qualifying conditions. Through the Employment Rights Bill, the Government is widening eligibility to the up to 1.3 million employees who are currently not entitled to SSP by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period, so that SSP is paid from the first day of work missed due to sickness absence. We are also creating a single enforcement body, The Fair Work Agency, which will bring existing state enforcement functions together into one place, so employment rights are enforced more effectively and efficiently. This will include the enforcement of the right to SSP. These measures are part of our commitment to implement our Plan to Make Work Pay, ensuring the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it most.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has included mandatory commitments to equality, diversity and inclusion training in contracts awarded since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

In accordance with government commercial policy, the department uses centrally maintained frameworks provided by the Crown Commercial Service and otherwise uses the suite of standard contracts maintained by Cabinet Office, for the majority of its contracts. These terms and conditions require the supplier to perform its obligations under the contract in accordance with equality law, but do not include a requirement to undertake mandatory training.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has included diversity quotas as selection criteria for contracts awarded since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department has not have included diversity quotas as selection criteria for contracts awarded since 5 July 2024.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's National Procurement Policy Statement published on 13 February 2025, whether he has made an estimate of compliance costs for contracting authorities in implementing the (a) updated statement and (b) the Employment Rights Bill.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Contracting authorities must have regard to the NPPS when undertaking their procurement activities, as set out in the Procurement Act 2023. An Impact Assessment in relation to the Procurement Act was published in May 2022 and can be found at https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/46429/documents/1767. Impact assessments for the Employment Rights Bill led by the Department for Business and Trade can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement published on 13 February 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) the updated statement and (b) the Employment Rights Bill on public sector procurement timelines.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Contracting authorities must have regard to the NPPS when undertaking their procurement activities, as set out in the Procurement Act 2023. An Impact Assessment in relation to the Procurement Act was published in May 2022 and can be found at https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/46429/documents/1767. Impact assessments for the Employment Rights Bill led by the Department for Business and Trade can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what training programmes his Department has put in place to help procurement officials navigate the (a) recently updated National Procurement Policy Statement and the (b) Employment Rights Bill.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Contracting authorities must have regard to the NPPS when undertaking their procurement activities, as set out in the Procurement Act 2023. An Impact Assessment in relation to the Procurement Act was published in May 2022 and can be found at https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/46429/documents/1767. Impact assessments for the Employment Rights Bill led by the Department for Business and Trade can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments.

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