Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many companies have been subject to (a) mandatory and (b) discretionary exclusion from contracts by his Department in each year since 2015.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not routinely hold a centralised list containing this information so I cannot provide a full response to this question. The MOD does have supplier selection processes in place, and these are used to assess suppliers against mandatory and discretionary criteria as stated in the procurement regulations and wider Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Notices. Responses from suppliers are reviewed by the delivery team and the commercial officer will then decide on suitability accordingly.