Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to his Department and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of his Department that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
I refer the Honourable gentleman to the response to PQ128071 answered on 22 February.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to encourage UK SMEs and other UK suppliers to win cloud-hosting contracts.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
Public sector procurers are required to seek value for money through fair and open competition and in line with our current international obligations.
The Government wants UK companies to be successful in public procurement, and we are seeking to ensure the huge purchasing power of government supports the task of boosting growth, and enables us to actively shape the UK market for the long term.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking in its procurement policy to tackle aggressive tax avoidance by government suppliers.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
The 2015 Public Contract Regulations implemented the latest EU Public Procurement Directive, and require public bodies to exclude suppliers from a procurement where the supplier has been found guilty of breaching its obligations in relation to payment of taxes and this has been established by a judicial or administrative decision having final effect within the relevant jurisdiction.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is Government policy to award cloud hosting contracts only to US hyperscale cloud providers; how many and what proportion of Government cloud hosting contracts have been awarded to hyperscale cloud providers and what the value was of those contracts in each of the last three years.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
It is not government policy to award only to US hyperscale cloud providers. It is our policy to award contracts on the basis of value for money, whilst doing everything we can to encourage UK suppliers, and UK SME's in particular, to win business. This is achieved through competitive tender in accordance with public procurement legislation.
Information on cloud hosting contracts for Government as a whole is not held centrally.
Asked by: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the volume of UK citizens’ data held by companies (a) supplying cloud services to Government and (b) contracted to deliver cloud services on behalf of Government that is subject to information requests from US Government bodies.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
Cabinet Office does not centrally collect the specific data requested.
Information regarding contracts above the value of £10,000 is published on Contracts Finder on GOV.UK, available at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
The Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Information Commissioner’s Office also have responsibilities in this area.