Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is his Department's policy that government procurement cards should not be used for purchases (a) of alcohol and (b) that could be made via an alternative compliant purchasing route.
In response to part (a), the provision of alcohol is covered by the departmental policy on gifts and hospitality. This prohibits the provision of alcohol from departmental funds for MoJ people, for example at conferences or other similar events. When providing hospitality to external parties, discretion can be exercised with Director-level approval, e.g. a modest amount of wine with a meal. Any purchase of alcohol by government procurement cards must be in line with this policy.
On part (b), the policy does not prohibit purchases that could be made via an alternative compliant purchasing route, but it requires cardholders to consult procurement bulletins first to identify whether there is flexibility to use other suppliers where goods/services are available on central contracts.