Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that goods produced through forced labour are not purchased within the framework of government contracts.

Abhorrent practices such as forced labour and modern slavery have no place in government contracts or in wider society. This Government is determined to stamp this out.

The Procurement Act 2023 provides contracting authorities with stronger powers to exclude suppliers from public procurements where there is compelling evidence of modern slavery within their supply chains.

In February 2025, the Government updated Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 009 ‘Tackling Modern Slavery in Government Supply Chains’, advocating a risk based approach to identifying and managing modern slavery risks, and encourages departments to conduct due diligence using a range of tools, such as the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT), and approaches to support decision making.

The MSAT is a modern slavery risk identification and management tool. This tool has been designed to help public sector organisations work in partnership with suppliers to improve protections and reduce the risk of exploitation of workers in their supply chains.

This government has also made the Anti-Slavery Risk Tiering Tool (ARTT) available for public sector buyers in October 2025. This tool enables faster risk assessments and clear next steps to mitigate modern slavery risks across the commercial lifecycle.