Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2024 to Question 8709 on Treasury: Electronic purchasing card solution, what the latest figure available is for the number of government procurement cards held by people to make purchases against his Department’s budget.

HMT currently has 65 electronic government procurement cards in use as at 22/01/24.

I would note that procurement cards were introduced by the last Labour Government, who welcomed their use, saying they are a ‘good example of Government learning from the private sector’.

I would like to note that the levels of expenditure for 2022 as a comparable full calendar year totalled £119k which was on par with 2009’s total expenditure of £111k.

Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the Government’s prompt payment initiative for Small and Medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.

They are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues. Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.

Procurement cards are held by officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.