Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment has there been of the effectiveness of the Crown Commercial Service Mystery Shopper scheme; and what steps the Government is taking to proactively promote that scheme to suppliers.

The Mystery Shopper service, introduced in 2011, allows suppliers to report poor procurement practice. Nearly 1500 cases have been received to date and, of the total cases closed during 2017-18, 99% resulted in positive change. Statutory powers introduced in March 2015 now require contracting authorities to co-operate with the service.

Lists of issues raised and the results of cases investigated so far under the Mystery Shopper scheme are published regularly on Gov.UK at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mystery-shopper-results