Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2022 to Question 143578, whether the updated guidance in the Public Contracts Regulations will explicitly incorporate provisions for UK incorporated companies operating globally, to help ensure adequate protections for citizens of foreign nations, particularly in Latin America.

The Regulations require contracting authorities to exclude bidders where they have established by verification or are otherwise aware that the bidder has been convicted of certain offences. These include offences related to participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, terrorist offences, money laundering or terrorist financing, and child labour and other forms of trafficking in human beings. These requirements apply both to convictions in the UK and equivalent convictions overseas. In certain circumstances, civil matters may be relevant to the discretionary exclusion grounds, for example, grave professional misconduct which renders the supplier’s integrity questionable.