Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend the Procurement Bill to ensure that no preferential treatment for public contracts can be given to organisations recommended by Members of Parliament.

This question was debated in the House of Lords, during the Report stage of the Procurement Bill on Wednesday 30 November 2022.

The Bill’s current clauses provide strong safeguards to preserve the integrity of a procurement. Clause 76 sets out the people in respect of whom conflicts of interest should be identified. This covers anyone acting for or on behalf of the contracting authority in relation to a procurement, including those who influence a decision made by, or on behalf of, a contracting authority related to the procurement. Clause 77(3) states that if a conflict of interest puts a supplier at an unfair advantage, and if steps to mitigate cannot avoid that advantage, the supplier must be excluded.

This, combined with the Bill’s requirements on transparency and equal treatment, will mean that contracting authorities will not be allowed to give preferential treatment to suppliers recommended by Members of Parliament.