Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many companies supplying goods and services to his Department, or contracted to deliver services on behalf of his Department, have been identified as avoiding their tax liabilities in the UK.

In line with the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 DWP uses a range of selection and exclusion criteria to avoid awarding contracts to unsuitable suppliers.

The mandatory exclusion criteria includes any supplier convicted of the common law offence of "cheating the Revenue" and/or "fraudulent evasion". Suppliers with a relevant conviction are excluded from the competition.

Suppliers will also be excluded where the Department has evidence of a breach of obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions which has been established by a judicial or administrative decision in accordance with UK law.

The discretionary exclusion criteria includes the option to exclude a supplier where the Department can demonstrate by appropriate means that a supplier is in breach of obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions (in lieu of a formal judicial or administrative decision).

DWP Standard Terms & Conditions also include provisions that require suppliers to notify the Department of any Occasions of Tax Non-Compliance or any litigation they are involved with that is connected to any Occasion of Tax Non-Compliance.

The Department can terminate the contract in the event that the supplier:

• Has misrepresented Occasions of Tax Non-Compliance in its warranty to the Department
• Fails to notify the Department of an Occasion of Tax Non-Compliance
• Fails to provide details of acceptable mitigation of an Occasion of Tax Non-Compliance.

The Department does not keep a central record of suppliers who are excluded from procurement competitions due to avoiding or evading tax liabilities. In fact suppliers are encouraged to self-regulate by deselecting themselves from the competition when they become aware of the exclusion criteria.

The Department does not keep a central record of suppliers who report Occasions of Tax Non-Compliance during the lifetime of the contract. These are addressed by the contract manager in each case in accordance with the Terms & Conditions of the contract.