Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he is making on publishing the names of (a) companies which went through the high-priority lane for covid-19 contracts and (b) the people who referred those companies.

We have no plans to publish a list of suppliers as there may be associated commercial implications. The Department has to consider the position of suppliers in terms of the recognition that disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position and could have a potentially detrimental impact on their revenue. We also have no plans to publish the names of those who referred those companies as this would make it less likely that individuals would provide the Department with commercially sensitive information in the future and consequently undermine the ability of the Department to fulfil its commercial role.

Contract Award Notices and the contracts themselves have now been published for all personal protective equipment contracts awarded by the Department which contain the details of the supplier, the value of the contract and the items ordered under the contract.