Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of setting targets for increased public procurement from Commonwealth nations after the UK withdraws from the EU.

The Crown Commercial Service and the department for International Trade are leading a programme of work to ensure the UK continues to benefit from reciprocal access to international public procurement markets after we leave the EU.

This includes seeking independent UK membership of the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), a plurilateral agreement between 19 parties, including Canada and New Zealand. The GPA mutually opens government procurement markets between its parties, and addresses trade barriers, such as preferential treatment of domestic goods and services, in the government procurement sector.