Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of public procurement contracts the Law Officers' Departments awarded through framework agreements in each year since 2010.

The Government Legal Department (GLD), Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) do not hold central records of the number of bids received for each contract (3982). In addition, while it is their policy to use frameworks (e.g. those established by the Crown Commercial Service, government departments or public sector bodies) either through direct award or through a mini-competition, we do not hold a central record that would enable us to determine the proportion of purchases/contracts made through these framework agreements (4012). We are therefore unable to provide the information without examining the detail of each contract award/purchase made and this could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Similarly, the information requested (3982 and 4012) is not collated centrally at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and could only be obtained through a manual search of records, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not keep a consolidated central record of the number of bids received for each contract (3982) or of which contracts are awarded via framework agreements (4012). To answer both these questions would involve separately checking all contracts awarded since 2010 and would incur disproportionate cost (Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, part 2, clause 9).