Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 2 February 2018 to Question 125692, for what reason contracts with Carillion did not use project bank accounts.

The Government Construction Strategy committed government departments to use Project Bank Accounts for their projects unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. A certain amount of contracts with Carillion had used Project Bank Accounts but the complexity of the contracting structure is such that it is not possible for the Official Receiver at this stage in the liquidation process to say why they were not used in relation to all contracts.

We continue to work with public sector construction procurers to drive the use of Project Banks Accounts to facilitate faster, more transparent and certain payments in the construction supply chain. This will ease the cash flow through the system and support closer working within the supply chain.