Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued to other departments on assessing the tax conduct of suppliers when awarding public contracts.

The Procurement Act 2023 sets out exclusion grounds to prevent suppliers who are guilty of tax evasion from bidding for public contracts. Under these provisions, public authorities must disregard bids from these suppliers where the circumstances giving rise to the misconduct are continuing or likely to occur again.

To support contracting authorities, the Cabinet Office has published guidance on the exclusions regime and the Procurement Specific Questionnaire template that can be used to collect relevant exclusions and debarment information before awarding a contract.