Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many government procurement cards were held by people to make purchases against her Department’s budget as of (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 March 2023 and (c) 31 December 2023.

Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the government’s prompt payment initiative for small and medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.

Procurement cards are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues. Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls. Procurement cards are held by departmental officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.

In the interest of providing the most comprehensive response to your question, the department also administers embedded cards for four national contracts on behalf of DfE, ESFA, STA and TRA.

The table below highlights the named cardholders for the department: