Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage (a) schools, (b) prisons and (c) hospitals to serve British-caught fish.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has consulted on changes to the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF), including increasing the sourcing of local and sustainable food. The consultation sought views on sourcing, where possible, a diverse range of seasonally available seafood species from locally caught or produced sources. As the Government response to the consultation has not yet been published, it is too soon to pre-empt any specific findings.
We have also now appointed an independent advisor to support the Government’s ongoing work to improve food procurement in the public sector and make the system more accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses and, subject to domestic and international legal obligations, explore the benefits of and steps to getting more local-caught fish into schools, prisons and hospitals.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what was the procurement process for the awarding of the contract by Post Office Limited to TB Cardew in 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Information on Post Office’s contract with TB Cardew can be accessed here - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/a6c99396-8da9-419f-a9df-284360e2b765?origin=SearchResults&p=1
Post Office’s management, together with the Board of Directors, are responsible for running Post Office day-to-day and taking commercial decisions.
As a public sector organisation Post Office is bound by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Post Office’s procurement policy is reviewed regularly by the Post Office Board and the Board scrutinises procurements that are high-value or novel and/or contentious. In addition, as per the Articles of Association Post Office requires the prior written consent of the Shareholder for any undertaking to incur any expenditure in excess of £50 million.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what is the (a) purpose and (b) value of Post Office Limited's contract with TB Cardew.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Information on Post Office’s contract with TB Cardew can be accessed here - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/a6c99396-8da9-419f-a9df-284360e2b765?origin=SearchResults&p=1
Post Office’s management, together with the Board of Directors, are responsible for running Post Office day-to-day and taking commercial decisions.
As a public sector organisation Post Office is bound by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Post Office’s procurement policy is reviewed regularly by the Post Office Board and the Board scrutinises procurements that are high-value or novel and/or contentious. In addition, as per the Articles of Association Post Office requires the prior written consent of the Shareholder for any undertaking to incur any expenditure in excess of £50 million.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the (a) Public Sector Productivity Programme and (b) NHS productivity plan.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government published detail on the Public Sector Productivity Programme in the Spring Budget. This included the announcement of £4.2 billion to drive productivity in the NHS and the wider public sector, and a separate document, Seizing the Opportunity, that outlined work to date across government to improve efficiency and productivity in counter-fraud, procurement, project management, asset management and digital transformation.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department issues for NHS Trusts on carbon reduction planning; and if she will publish guidance for trusts on offsetting carbon emissions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Care Act (2022) empowered NHS England to issue statutory guidance on decarbonisation to National Health Service trusts and integrated care Boards. The following guidance has been issued through that power: Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service report, which sets a Net Zero target of 2040 for the NHS carbon footprint, and covers offsetting; and the Net Zero Supplier Roadmap, which aims to decarbonise NHS procurement.
All 212 NHS trusts have Green Plans in place setting out how they will meet the ambitions set out in this guidance. The Government continues to provide significant financial support to this work, including investing over £800 million in grant funding through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with the National Centre for Computing Education on its progress in ensuring greater female participation in STEM subjects in (a) further and (b) higher education.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department is committed to ensuring that anyone, regardless of their gender or background, can pursue an education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.
The department’s contract with the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) is managed by departmental officials who meet regularly with STEM Learning, the NCCE supplier, to discuss progress. The NCCE aims to improve the quality of computing education and drive up participation in computing at GCSE and A Level, particularly amongst girls. The NCCE is primarily focused on supporting schools and colleges across England, with the expectation that an increase in participation and interest from girls with computing would coincide with an increase in female participation at further education (FE) and higher education (HE).
As part of the procurement for the second NCCE contract, the department asked bidders to design a gender insights programme, aimed at improving schools’ awareness of the barriers to girls’ engagement with computing and to engage schools in a sustained course of action designed to improve the take up of computer science qualifications, where girls are underrepresented. In Autumn 2023, the NCCE launched the ‘I Belong’ programme to schools and colleges, and early completers include a number of FE providers. The NCCE actively engages with industry, the public sector, and FE and HE institutions, to ensure that they have diverse role models, especially women, supporting the delivery of their work, including working with universities to run student outreach events and recruiting female volunteer Computing Ambassadors.
Last year, the Digital and Computing Skills Education Taskforce was established to deliver on the department’s science and technology ambitions by bringing together experienced and well-respected leaders from priority digital sectors, FE and HE. The NCCE is one of the core members of the Taskforce, who are empowered to guide the group’s work as well as working with other government departments and external partners to deliver on the key actions most likely to impact on the digital skills gap. One of the three priority workstreams identified by the taskforce was “increasing the gender diversity of those taking computing and digital qualifications”. The NCCE has played an active role in the sponsorship of this workstream and the development.
The department funds the Isaac Physics programme to increase the numbers of students, particularly from typically underrepresented backgrounds, studying physics in higher education. The department also currently funds inclusion activities as part of the Science CPD contract, to increase the uptake of A Level physics from underrepresented students, including girls. Including the Stimulating Physics Network, a network of 50 schools offering specialist support to around 350 partner schools, which includes advice and guidance on how to improve progression from physics GCSE to A level, where girls are typically underrepresented.
For mathematics, the department funds the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP) which provides support for teachers and students in state-funded schools and colleges in England. Additional support is offered in areas of low social mobility so that, whatever their location, background or gender, students can choose their best post-16 maths pathway and access high-quality teaching. The AMSP has a particular focus on supporting girls into mathematics and runs a variety of enrichment and engagement sessions specifically for girls, including Steps to University for Mathematical Students events, targeted at year 12 girls.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Procurement Act 2023 on strengthening cyber security requirements for public tenders.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Procurement Act 2023 brings in new powers to exclude and debar companies from public procurement on grounds of national security. The new National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP), in the Cabinet Office, will work across government to coordinate assessments of companies and support ministers in national security debarment decisions.
In addition, Procurement Policy Note 09/14 requires central government contracting authorities to ensure that for contracts with certain characteristics, suppliers must meet the technical requirements prescribed by Cyber Essentials, including where suppliers store, or process, personal information or data at Official level.
The Cabinet Office encourages all organisations to follow National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance which sets out the security matters to be considered during the procurement process. The National Protective Security Agency (NPSA) has also published guidance to prevent hostile actors exploiting vulnerabilities in supply chains.
The National Procurement Policy Statement sets out the national priorities that all contracting authorities should have regard to in their procurement where it is relevant to the subject matter of the contract and proportionate to do so. The current statement does not include cyber security as a separate, wider policy because the need for cyber security protection is fundamental to procurements where it applies and therefore built into the procurement process as described above. The new legislative statement that will come into force alongside the Procurement Act is currently being drafted and will be subject to a consultation process as set out in Section 13 of the Act.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the National Procurement Policy Statement, published in June 2021, on cybersecurity in public sector procurement processes.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Procurement Act 2023 brings in new powers to exclude and debar companies from public procurement on grounds of national security. The new National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP), in the Cabinet Office, will work across government to coordinate assessments of companies and support ministers in national security debarment decisions.
In addition, Procurement Policy Note 09/14 requires central government contracting authorities to ensure that for contracts with certain characteristics, suppliers must meet the technical requirements prescribed by Cyber Essentials, including where suppliers store, or process, personal information or data at Official level.
The Cabinet Office encourages all organisations to follow National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance which sets out the security matters to be considered during the procurement process. The National Protective Security Agency (NPSA) has also published guidance to prevent hostile actors exploiting vulnerabilities in supply chains.
The National Procurement Policy Statement sets out the national priorities that all contracting authorities should have regard to in their procurement where it is relevant to the subject matter of the contract and proportionate to do so. The current statement does not include cyber security as a separate, wider policy because the need for cyber security protection is fundamental to procurements where it applies and therefore built into the procurement process as described above. The new legislative statement that will come into force alongside the Procurement Act is currently being drafted and will be subject to a consultation process as set out in Section 13 of the Act.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Procurement Act 2023 for tackling cybersecurity threats in public tenders.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Procurement Act 2023 brings in new powers to exclude and debar companies from public procurement on grounds of national security. The new National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP), in the Cabinet Office, will work across government to coordinate assessments of companies and support ministers in national security debarment decisions.
In addition, Procurement Policy Note 09/14 requires central government contracting authorities to ensure that for contracts with certain characteristics, suppliers must meet the technical requirements prescribed by Cyber Essentials, including where suppliers store, or process, personal information or data at Official level.
The Cabinet Office encourages all organisations to follow National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance which sets out the security matters to be considered during the procurement process. The National Protective Security Agency (NPSA) has also published guidance to prevent hostile actors exploiting vulnerabilities in supply chains.
The National Procurement Policy Statement sets out the national priorities that all contracting authorities should have regard to in their procurement where it is relevant to the subject matter of the contract and proportionate to do so. The current statement does not include cyber security as a separate, wider policy because the need for cyber security protection is fundamental to procurements where it applies and therefore built into the procurement process as described above. The new legislative statement that will come into force alongside the Procurement Act is currently being drafted and will be subject to a consultation process as set out in Section 13 of the Act.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the judgment in Consultant Connect Ltd v NHS Bath et al of 29 July 2022, what actions the integrated care boards who were defendants in that case have taken to ensure that members of the public and commercial suppliers have confidence in their procurement processes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Each commissioning organisation involved in the procurement process produced their own lessons learnt report, and the decisions around the publication of lessons learned reports are for individual integrated care boards (ICBs). With reference to guidance and support to ICBs on procurement, NHS England published the Strategic framework for the NHS Commercial Sector on 28 November 2023, a copy of which is attached.
The framework aims to encourage regional collaboration between integrated care systems by creating regional collaborative commercial organisations. These will operate as group procurement organisations in providing the necessary system leadership, capability and capacity to deliver strategic commercial outcomes and supply chain efficiencies, and will be designed against a national blueprint to ensure consistency.
Every National Health Service provider will be expected to be a member of a collaborative organisation and a senior, experienced, qualified commercial leader will be appointed to run and promote each organisation at an executive-level, with ownership for commercial strategy and all non-pay spend.