Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is Government policy that personal connections may play a formal role in the awarding of contracts during a procurement process.

Through our work to extend the use of the Social Value Act we will ensure that all major central government procurements will, where appropriate, explicitly evaluate social value.

In terms of the Government's approach to procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic, I refer to the answers I gave in Cabinet Office oral questions on 17 December.