Oral Answers to Questions
Jo Platt Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)
Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)
The Government have set out an unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, and we have already set out a number of transformative measures to overhaul the policing response to these terrible crimes. This includes announcing a £13 million investment in the new national centre for violence against women and girls and public protection, and we will publish the new violence against women and girls strategy before the summer recess.
Jo Platt
Recent figures show that sexual offences recorded by Greater Manchester police have quadrupled since 2010, with the Wigan borough seeing the most domestic abuse call-outs. Although the domestic abuse protection order trial in Wigan is welcome, more must be done to ensure that women and girls are safe. Does the Minister agree that broader societal action is needed, and can she outline how the Government will work across Departments, public services and local authorities to address this crisis?
Jess Phillips
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. The Victims Minister and I chair the violence against women and girls cross-government board, which meets very regularly. It has led to our violence against women and girls strategy, which sits within that. It is an expert group that helps us on policy. It includes local government, the voluntary sector, the police and other members of civil society. She is absolutely right to say that this policy will involve everybody.
Oral Answers to Questions
Jo Platt Excerpts(3 months, 1 week ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jess Asato (Lowestoft) (Lab)
Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Georgia Gould)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 17 and 20 together�while the rest of the ministerial team go and have a cup of tea.
The wide-ranging interest in this topic shows just how much the �400 billion spent on procurement in the public sector matters for growth and for communities across the UK. I was recently in Grimsby, where small businesses are delivering local growth, innovating and providing more than half of local employment. MPs know that SMEs are vital for providing local employment in their communities. Under the previous Government, however, we became overly reliant on large consultants and a small number of big companies. We have too often ended up locked into expensive, poor performing contracts, with companies able to drive up prices in closed markets. That has to change. The new national procurement policy statement asks the public sector to maximise procurement spend with small and medium-sized enterprises, and the Government are leading the way by setting ambitious public targets for Departments on spending on SMEs.
Georgia Gould
I wholeheartedly agree. My hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) took me to a similar farm in her constituency that had been set up by an ex-prison officer. I have to say that it was one of the most enjoyable visits I have had�it was great for my mental health to feed some alpacas and goats. I have heard powerful stories about how social prescribing has changed lives, from ending chronic loneliness to helping individuals such as a man I met recently, who had found his first stable home in his 50s.
The new NPPS specifically asks contracting authorities to maximise spend with voluntary sector organisations, and we will be introducing targets for Government on spend with voluntary sector organisations and social enterprises. The Government have listened to concerns from local authorities and are working to implement changes to allow them to reserve competitions for low-value contracts for local organisations.
Jo Platt
Last but not least, Mr Speaker. The mass grouping of these questions on this subject proves the failure of the previous Government to get a grip on this particular issue. Can the Minister reassure me, and SMEs such as WJ Structures and Rothwells Paper in my constituency, that this Government will take steps to simplify the process, thereby keeping the pound local instead of contracts going to multinationals?
Georgia Gould
I very much welcome these questions� I could happily speak about procurement all day, because it is absolutely critical for delivering the Government�s missions. The Procurement Act 2023 removes some of these challenges, but we need to do more. That is why we are setting ambitious and stretching targets for direct spend on SMEs and have asked officials to review our framework contracts, in particular, to ensure that they are more accessible to SMEs. The challenges raised by businesses in my hon. Friend�s constituency are the same as those I have heard described by SMEs across the country�our procurement is too complex and too slow, and it needs to change. We need to get that �400 billion into real jobs and SMEs in our communities.
Oral Answers to Questions
Jo Platt Excerpts(4 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Prime Minister
He was Liz Truss’s right-hand man, so we wouldn’t expect anything else.
The IPA’s verdict on the previous Government’s plan was that there were “major issues”—[Interruption.] This is the Conservatives’ record; they should not be chuckling. The verdict was that there were “major issues” with the definition, schedule, budget, quality and delivery. It was a fiction—always was.
Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)
The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for raising this awful case—the stories and accounts are heartbreaking and deeply concerning. I will make sure that she and the group receive a meeting with the relevant Health Minister at the earliest opportunity.
Oral Answers to Questions
Jo Platt Excerpts(7 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Georgia Gould)
We will end the waste, inefficiency and cronyism that set in under the previous Government. Under this Government, procurement will deliver value for money, better public services and our national missions. As a first step, we are bringing forward a new national procurement policy statement under the Procurement Act 2023, which will deliver a mission-led procurement regime. It will drive value for money, economic growth and social value. We have also taken steps to cut down on wasteful consultancy spending, and have worked to set up a new covid counter-fraud commissioner. As set out in our plan to make work pay, we will also take further reforms set out in our manifesto.
Jo Platt
Does the Minister agree that, when done right, public procurement can deliver positive change in our communities, especially given the poor state in which the previous Government left the public finances? What steps will she take to ensure that social value is properly embedded in our procurement frameworks, while delivering value for taxpayers and contributing to growth in our local economies?
Georgia Gould
I agree that procurement can be a powerful tool for delivering change in our society. Public sector procurement can help to drive our ambitions around growth, opening up opportunities for communities across the UK. The Government are currently consulting on a new national procurement policy statement that will set out our expectations around mission delivery and social value.