Question to the Cabinet Office:

What steps his Department is taking to improve transparency in procurement in its response to the covid-19 outbreak.

The government recognises the importance of maintaining public confidence in how we manage taxpayers’ money and I have set out before the challenges we faced in our response to the covid 19 outbreak. We are taking steps to improve the processes already in place and ensure public spending is fair and transparent.

Proposals in the Green Paper aim to improve transparency in procurement across the public sector and include specific measures to strengthen transparency through the commercial lifecycle from planning through to procurement, contract award, performance and completion.

We are also taking forward all 28 recommendations from the independent Boardman report to set out areas for improvement within the Cabinet Office’s own internal contracting procedures.

We have also made KPI data on 379 contracts available to the public, as a further step towards greater transparency.