Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to require bidders to declare (a) convictions under Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 and (b) similar additional information in pre-contract questionnaires.

The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 provide an exhaustive list of the grounds on which a bidder must or can be excluded from a procurement procedure, which are derived from the EU Procurement Directives.

The grounds on which a bidder can be excluded on a discretionary basis include where the bidder is guilty of grave professional misconduct, which renders its integrity questionable.

Where a bidder has committed serious offences, such as an offence under Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010, this may give rise to grounds for exclusion. The particular circumstances would be considered on a case by case basis by the relevant procuring authority, including any evidence of self-cleaning put forward by the bidder.