Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to remove conflicts of interest in the government procurement process.

There are specific legal duties in the Public Contracts Regulations that require government departments to take appropriate measures to effectively prevent, identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct of procurement procedures, so as to avoid any distortion of competition and to ensure equal treatment of all bidders and suppliers.

Companies may be excluded from bidding for government contracts where a conflict cannot be effectively remedied.

An updated Procurement Policy Note was published in May 2021 on the management of actual and perceived conflicts of interest in order to provide commercial teams across government with further information on the roles and responsibilities of those involved in decision making, risk management and how provisions may be applied to suppliers.