Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment the his Department has made of the value of insourcing services as part of the Government’s covid-19 response.

Working with the private sector has been a vital part of the government’s response to tackling the coronavirus crisis, with private sector workers standing alongside those from the public sector on the front line. Collaborative working between the public and private sectors has enabled us to respond to the challenges of Covid, including rapidly manufacturing over 15,000 mechanical ventilators for use by the NHS, sourcing over 32 billion items of PPE and building the capacity to carry out more than 500,000 tests per day. When making decisions on how to deliver public services, departments should consider various possible delivery methods including in-house, joint ventures or via the private sector.