Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what voucher schemes the currently advertised £3.3 billion contract relates to.

The Government has a longstanding commitment to the principle of transparency in procurement.

We have recently launched our Green Paper on transforming the UK’s public procurement regulations. The proposals outline specific measures to strengthen transparency throughout the commercial lifecycle and make sure we can have a choice of direct award and more competitive tendering during crises.

The Crown Commercial Service aims to create a framework which will provide an efficient and compliant route to market for public sector bodies for a broad range of voucher schemes. A Prior Information Notice was issued to the market on 29th January 2021 and stakeholder engagement is ongoing, prior to the issuance of a formal contract notice. The maximum potential value of call offs by the public sector is anticipated to be £3.3bn over the lifecycle of this framework agreement.

The framework agreement will not deliver voucher based reward and recognition schemes to employees but will cover a wide range of voucher types, such as to reward and incentivise the general public (i.e. in response to completing surveys) and to provide support to those in times of need or distress.