Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of public procurement policy in prioritising (a) strategic resilience and (b) national security.

This government believes that it matters where things are made and who makes them. We also believe government procurement should do much more to protect national security, including in critical UK industries, in line with our international trade agreements.

That’s why on the 26th March I announced plans to ensure government departments make use of the national security exemptions in the Procurement Act, where lawful and appropriate, to ensure procurement serves the national interest. We will start with four sectors critical to our national security: steel; shipbuilding; energy infrastructure; and artificial intelligence.

As part of this, we are working alongside the government’s National Shipbuilding Office to explore a new commercial framework for shipbuilding with a predictable pipeline of work for domestic shipyards.

This is a major step forward in supporting British national security in critical industries and supply chains, and I will update the House when the new guidance is published.