Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to require bidders to declare (a) convictions under Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 and (b) similar additional information in pre-contract questionnaires.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 provide an exhaustive list of the grounds on which a bidder must or can be excluded from a procurement procedure, which are derived from the EU Procurement Directives.
The grounds on which a bidder can be excluded on a discretionary basis include where the bidder is guilty of grave professional misconduct, which renders its integrity questionable.
Where a bidder has committed serious offences, such as an offence under Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010, this may give rise to grounds for exclusion. The particular circumstances would be considered on a case by case basis by the relevant procuring authority, including any evidence of self-cleaning put forward by the bidder.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the UK has excluded a company from public procurement for reasons of corruption.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Exclusion decisions in public procurement are taken by individual contracting authorities and government does not hold this data centrally.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to paragraph 11 of his consultation document on the draft Register of Overseas Entities Bill relating to information for the public register on the beneficial ownership of companies that bid for public contracts, what thresholds he is considering for those contracts.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government has decided that the most effective way to achieve the required level of transparency on overseas entity beneficial ownership is to require information about beneficial ownership as a condition of awarding contracts that meet certain conditions or thresholds, and that this will enable the public and interested parties to easily identify the beneficial owners of entities awarded central government contracts. The information about beneficial ownership that will be required, will be equivalent to that proposed for the Register of Overseas Entities, and it will be published in an equally transparent way.
The Government is currently considering mechanisms including the Contracts Finder service (currently used to publish contract award information) to achieve this. A financial threshold for applying the policy on publishing beneficial ownership information has not yet been decided and will be subject to a Government consultation.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to paragraph 11 of his consultation on the draft Register of Overseas Entities Bill and the information for the public register on beneficial ownership of companies that bid for public contracts, what conditions he is considering for those contracts.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government has decided that the most effective way to achieve the required level of transparency on overseas entity beneficial ownership is to require information about beneficial ownership as a condition of awarding contracts that meet certain conditions or thresholds, and that this will enable the public and interested parties to easily identify the beneficial owners of entities awarded central government contracts. The information about beneficial ownership that will be required, will be equivalent to that proposed for the Register of Overseas Entities, and it will be published in an equally transparent way.
The Government is currently considering mechanisms including the Contracts Finder service (currently used to publish contract award information) to achieve this. A financial threshold for applying the policy on publishing beneficial ownership information has not yet been decided and will be subject to a Government consultation.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2018 to Question 126043 on Government Departments: Procurement, how many and what proportion of major government suppliers have been in compliance with the prompt payment code in each month since that code was introduced.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
This information is not currently held centrally.
BEIS have recently introduced a payment reporting system, which requires large businesses to report on their UK payment practices and performance. Businesses must report 6 monthly on their payment performance starting with their first full financial year that starts on or after 6 April 2017:
This system is in its early stages and not all businesses have yet submitted reports. However, we believe this change will put more pressure on UK businesses to improve their payment culture.
We intend to take further steps to improve payment practices in government supply chains and we will be bringing forward proposals shortly.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2018 to Question 122773, on Carillion, how many of the 450 contracts with Government were (a) being delivered on schedule, (b) the subject of cost overruns and (c) the subject of unexpected delays.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
We have not had any significant performance issues on direct government contracts. Departments continually monitor the operational performance of contracts to ensure the best outcome for taxpayers. Public sector contracts with Carillion were not the principal cause of the company's financial difficulties.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made on the level of compliance with the prompt payment code of major government suppliers.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Prompt Payment Code is monitored by the Prompt Payment Code Compliance Board, under the auspices of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Carillion was a Government strategic supplier.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Carillion was a Government Strategic Supplier. The current list of Strategic Suppliers can be found at:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/crownrepresentatives
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2018 to Question 122920, when he plans to announce the new list of Government strategic suppliers.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The list of Governmen strategic suppliers can be found at:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/crownrepresentatives
This list is updated periodically.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Government setting up project bank accounts for each public sector project to protect suppliers in the light of the liquidation of Carillion.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) are the preferred option by government when it is considered best value for money for taxpayers, and we have made a commitment in the Government Construction Strategy to use PBAs unless there are compelling reasons not to. Over £10bn has been spent in this way on a wide range of projects between 2011 and 2015.