Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications of the Three-Vodafone merger on his Department’s contracts with Vodafone.

As an open economy, this Government welcomes and encourages investment where it supports the Prime Minister’s goal of boosting UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. The Government has robust powers under the National Security & Investment Act, which it introduced to block or impose remedies on transactions that pose a national security risk.

We cannot comment on specific acquisitions nor the applicability of the National Security and Investment regime.

It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators.

The Investment Security Unit works closely with the Competition and Markets Authority on cases that are being considered for both national security and competition reasons. A memorandum of understanding has been agreed between the Investment Security Unit and the Competition and Markets Authority to assist joint working. The notice is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/operation-of-the-national-security-and-investment-act-2021-memorandum-of-understanding/mou-between-beis-and-the-cma-on-the-operation-of-the-national-security-and-investment-act-2021