Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Competition and Markets Authority on the expected timetable for the Strategic Market Status investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem; and what steps they are taking to ensure that any remedies to address competition concerns are implemented without undue delay.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The CMA launched its Strategic Market Status designation investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem on 14 May 2026.
This investigation must be completed within 9 months. An indicative timetable of this investigation is published on the CMA’s website. The CMA operates independently and decisions on which firms to investigate, and how these investigations are conducted rest solely with the CMA.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which central government departments are dependent on Microsoft software and cloud services to deliver core public services; and what steps they are taking to ensure departments retain the ability to procure competing products and services.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government does not maintain an aggregated assessment of departmental dependency on Microsoft software or cloud services. Departments are responsible for selecting technology that meets their needs, in line with security, resilience, procurement and value-for-money requirements. The Cloud First policy does not require use of Microsoft, and departments may procure competing products and services, including from other major cloud providers. The Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 secures preferential discounts for eligible public sector organisations but is not a direct route to market; departments must still run compliant procurement processes. Cabinet Office and DCMS continue to monitor the market, including the CMA’s investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, and will consider its findings when published.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of software licensing restrictions on value for money for public sector organisations seeking to deploy Microsoft software on non-Microsoft cloud infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government does not maintain an aggregated assessment of departmental dependency on Microsoft software or cloud services. Departments are responsible for selecting technology that meets their needs, in line with security, resilience, procurement and value-for-money requirements. The Cloud First policy does not require use of Microsoft, and departments may procure competing products and services, including from other major cloud providers. The Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 secures preferential discounts for eligible public sector organisations but is not a direct route to market; departments must still run compliant procurement processes. Cabinet Office and DCMS continue to monitor the market, including the CMA’s investigation into Microsoft’s business software ecosystem, and will consider its findings when published.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of annual central government expenditure on Microsoft products relates to software licensing, including Microsoft 365, Windows Server and SQL Server.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information on the specific proportion of annual central government expenditure on Microsoft products allocated to software licensing is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of total annual public sector expenditure on Microsoft software licences, cloud services and related support contracts across central government; and what assessment they have made of the impact of competition in software and cloud markets on value for money for taxpayers.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information on total annual public sector expenditure on Microsoft software licences, cloud services and related support contracts is not held centrally. Responsibility for IT procurement is devolved to individual contracting authorities, which are responsible for determining their operational requirements and managing their own commercial arrangements.
In support of value for money, the Government Commercial Agency manages the Strategic Partnership Arrangement 2024 with Microsoft. This Memorandum of Understanding is designed to enable the public sector to benefit from government-wide scale in securing preferential pricing, while requiring individual customers to undertake compliant procurement processes and appropriate market testing for specific procurements.
The Government recognises the importance of effective competition in software and cloud markets in supporting value for money for taxpayers. It therefore seeks to maintain competitive tension and to reduce dependency on any single supplier by promoting a diverse technology estate across a range of cloud and software providers. The Cabinet Office also keeps under review relevant market investigations undertaken by the Competition and Markets Authority to help ensure that public sector digital procurement remains open and competitive.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Competition and Markets Authority opening a Strategic Market Status investigation, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, into Amazon's retail marketplace and its sponsored product and retail media advertising activities.
Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the UK's independent competition authority responsible for operating the digital markets regime. The Government does not conduct its own assessment of individual CMA investigations. Decisions on investigations, designations and interventions under the regime are a matter for the CMA.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the fifth round of the Regulators' Pioneer Fund is expected to open; and whether it will confirm whether past winners remain eligible to apply with a materially different follow-on proposal.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Regulators’ Pioneer Fund (RPF), delivered by the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO), supports regulators and local authorities to develop and test innovative regulatory approaches that help accelerate innovation across a range of sectors and regions of the UK. In October 2025, the RIO awarded up to £7.9 million to 14 regulator and local authority-led projects through the fourth round of the Fund. These projects are due to conclude by the end of the 2026.
At London Tech Week in June 2026, the Government announced that the RIO would allocate approximately £70 million to regulatory innovation funding over the current spending review period. RIO is now developing the funding mechanisms, delivery model and supporting processes needed to deploy this funding effectively and maximise its impact.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government why no full impact assessment was prepared for the revised Telecommunications Security Code of Practice 2026.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Telecommunications Security Code of Practice provides technical guidance for public telecoms providers on how they can comply with their security requirements as set out in the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 and the Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022.
A full impact assessment was carried out for the telecoms security framework when it came into effect in 2022. The estimated cost of the framework on Tier 1 and Tier 2 public telecoms providers was assessed in the frameworks impact assessment (The Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022).
A full Regulatory Impact Assessment was not prepared for the revised Code of Practice. The revised Code provides additional guidance on how public telecommunications providers may demonstrate compliance with existing statutory security duties under the Act. The updates to the Code do not introduce new statutory duties or regulatory requirements and do not constitute a regulatory provision under the Better Regulation Framework.
An assessment on the costs to industry of the proposed updates to the Code was carried out, details of which are included in the explanatory memorandum. Indicative estimates suggest potential one-off implementation costs in the order of £1.9 million to £3.2 million per provider, with ongoing annual costs of approximately £285,000 to £445,000 per provider. When considered in the context of the scale and revenues of the UK telecommunications sector, the Government considers these costs to be relatively minor.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what industry submissions on cost were received during the consultation on the revised Telecommunications Security Code of Practice 2026; and whether they will publish that underlying data.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Telecommunications Security Code of Practice provides technical guidance for public telecoms providers on how they can comply with their security requirements as set out in the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 and the Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022.
The government is committed to continuously evaluating the effectiveness of the UK’s telecoms security framework, and the Draft Revised Code of Practice strengthens security guidance to public telecoms providers to reflect evolving technology and emerging security threats.
The government ran a consultation on proposed updates to the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice 2022 from 28 August 2025 to 22 October 2025, and an additional cost survey which ran from 25 November 2025 until 28 January 2026.
Cost related feedback received from the consultation, and the additional cost survey, informed the resulting assessment on costs to industry included in the explanatory memorandum for the Draft Revised Code of Practice, published on GOV.UK on 3 June.
Indicative estimates suggest potential one-off implementation costs of the proposed updates to the Code being in the order of £1.9 million to £3.2 million per provider. Estimates for the ongoing annual costs are approximately £285,000 to £445,000 per provider. The Government considers these costs to be relatively minor, given the critical importance of good security and the current scale and revenues of the UK telecommunications sector.
Underlying cost data from individual providers has not been published, to protect commercial confidentiality and mitigate the risk of exposing vulnerabilities in UK telecoms networks.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Social Market Foundation, Clearing the Air, published on 3 July 2024, which suggested that restrictive software licensing practices may cost the UK public sector £60 million a year.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
While HMG has not issued a formal, comprehensive assessment of the Social Market Foundation's July 2024 report, Clearing the Air, its findings remain highly pertinent to ongoing digital market regulatory efforts.
This report was submitted as evidence to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to support its in-depth investigation into competition within the UK's public cloud infrastructure services market. These insights are currently being reviewed to help shape future public sector commercial practices and guidance.
Furthermore, public sector procurement continues to align with the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Playbook. The playbook establishes essential policy reforms aimed at safeguarding against vendor lock-in and maximizing value for money.