Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2023to Question 140109 on Department of Health and Social Care: Procurement, whether previous allegations of improper data usage are taken into account before awarding public contracts that allow private companies access to sensitive patient data.

Allegations of previous improper data usage are not specified in Regulation 57 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, under either the mandatory or discretionary supplier exclusion grounds under which a supplier must or can be excluded from Government procurements. However, on discretionary grounds, bidders are required to confirm there has been no grave professional misconduct which renders its integrity questionable, which includes a breach of contract which amounts to wrongful intent or gross negligence.