Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kirith Entwistle and Georgia Gould

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Georgia Gould]

As my hon. Friend says, public procurement is a key lever for delivering improved standards in business and in achieving social value. It is one of the levers in making sure we are growing our economy and supporting good jobs, something I saw in local government where Labour councils made huge strides in delivering social value through procurement. The Government’s plan to make work pay sets out that ambitious programme to value organisations that create local jobs, skills and wealth, and treat their workers well and equally.

[Kirith Entwistle]

I join colleagues in welcoming the ministerial team to the Front Bench. The Government have made it clear that tackling waste in public procurement is a priority and that crony relationships will no longer define the awarding of contracts. Can the Minister reassure me and my constituents in Bolton North East that contracts will be awarded based on what is most cost-effective and on what is better for the public purse?

[Georgia Gould]

The Government have launched a fraud commissioner, whose role will be to look at what went wrong and make sure that we are learning those lessons. The VIP lanes and the issues that we saw previously cannot happen again. The new digital centre of Government, working closely with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will ensure that procurement and market engagement are used as effective tools to drive the uptake of new digital technologies and protect us against the kinds of thing that we saw previously.