Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many contracts they have entered into on the same or similar basis as the proposed contracts with private sector providers of the probation service, containing penal clauses requiring 100 per cent compensation in the event of cancellation.

In this instance to provide you with the information you ask would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold. Individual contract managers would need to search through hundreds of contract files to confirm whether the clauses in each one of their contracts are on the same or a similar basis to the clauses within the draft Transforming Rehabilitation contracts.

I can however tell you that voluntary termination is a standard clause in government contracts which is designed to provide flexibility for government while maintaining the balance of value for money for the tax payer.

Voluntary termination compensation would only be payable to the contractor if a contract is terminated through no fault of the contractor.