Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 29 March 2022 to Question 143776, on Gazprom: Local Government, whether he plans to change regulations in respect of procurement and contract tender for energy supply deals for local authorities, such as Gazprom.

The Cabinet Office’s Procurement Policy Notice 01/2022 confirmed DLUHC are considering an amendment through secondary legislation to address the issue that section 17 of the Local Government Act 1988 presents. Following requests from a number of local authorities to the Secretary of State, we recognise the desire for the Government to support local authorities who wish to cease their contracts with Russian suppliers. We therefore confirm we are progressing the development of a statutory instrument and are engaging interested councils accordingly.