Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 15 January (HL Deb, col 471), whether the joint and several liability that applies to all parties to the six joint venture contracts they let to groups in which Carillion was a shareholder will transition all of Carillion's obligations and liabilities to other joint venture partners without further cost or negative consequence; whether the stress testing of financial capacity of contractors to take on additional government work included an assessment of joint and several underwriting; and whether Carillion was judged capable of taking on the obligations of its joint venture partners if they failed.

Our Priority is the continuity of public services.

Contractually, the partners to those Joint Ventures are required to deliver the requirements of the Joint Venture if one of the partners fails.

We routinely stress-test contracts to ensure that if one party within a contract fails to deliver, the other parties involved will step in to complete the work. Individual contracts for these Joint Ventures are not held centrally.