Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the weighting of criteria connected with social value, local economic impact, and employment in public procurement processes; and what is the timeline for the implementation of any changes made.

The government issued a new Procurement Policy Note (026) in August 2026 for use by central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental bodies from 1 January 2027. This is the procurement tool used by central government organisations to include social value questions in tenders and increases the minimum weighting for social value to 20% for contracts with a total value of £5m or more. The Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet published further guidance on this in October 2026.