Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the position of crown representative responsible for Carillion services was vacant for three months following the retirement of Julie Scattergood.

This Government recognises the importance of managing relationships with Strategic Suppliers and their performance on a cross-Government basis, and has developed a range of strategies to do this, including the use of Crown Representatives.

The role of Crown Representative for Carillion was vacant for three months between August and November 2017 due to normal staff turnover. This also provided opportunity to bring in a new Crown Representative who had the necessary experience of company restructuring.

During this period, the Crown representative responsibilities were covered by the Government’s Chief Commercial officer and the Cabinet Office Director of Markets and Suppliers.