Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the procurement of British-made office products and stationery by (a) her Department and (b) its arms-length bodies.

The Government is committed to supporting British businesses and the products they produce, ensuring they have the best opportunities to win UK public contracts and deliver high-quality goods and services.

Cabinet Office are consulting on a package of further reforms to public procurement to support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

The Government maintains robust standards across a range of categories of spend, these are set out by the Government Buying Standards, including for Paper & paper products. Furthermore, Government has also implemented a Timber Procurement Policy to ensure that only timber and wood-derived products (including paper) originating from an independently verifiable Legal and Sustainable source will be used on the government estate.