Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many companies have been excluded from participating in public procurement due to legal action being initiated by Government relating to contracts to supply personal protective equipment.

Exclusion decisions are for individual departments. In the most serious of cases, the Cabinet Office may undertake a review of a supplier and issue guidance to departments but the decision on exclusion remains with the contracting authority.

The Procurement Bill, which is making its way through Parliament, further strengthens the rules on supplier exclusion for fraud and corruption. It will also create a new 'debarment register', accessible to all public sector organisations, which will list companies who should be excluded from contracts.

Information about exclusions relating to legal action being initiated by the Government relating to contracts to supply personal protective equipment is not held centrally.