Contributions
2,124 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy understanding is that the procurement process for PPE, as the hon. Gentleman rightly highlights, was a UK procurement process. As he will have seen, we invoked regulation 32,…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy right hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight that the decisions, as I touched on and as the PAC was told, were made following an eight-stage process run by civil servants…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsIn respect of the appropriateness of contract awards and whether there are any conflicts of interest, I refer the hon. Lady to the answer that I just gave to my right hon. Friend…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. For our businesses to go from a capacity to produce this country’s PPE of 1% to 70% is an incredible achievement, but we must not rest on our…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. He is right to highlight the amazing effort by British business and by businesses that stepped up in this country’s hour of need to repurpose…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsThe hon. Gentleman made two points. On the latter, the Government will always look very carefully at anything he suggests to them. On the former, very serious point, if he is able…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsI have known the hon. Lady since I came to this House, so I will not take it personally if she suggests that, as I am not the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the import of…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsI am grateful to my hon. Friend for the point he makes on behalf of his constituents. The overwhelming priority was to ensure that we got the PPE in the quantities we needed to…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy hon. Friend highlights the situation we faced at the time. He also, quite rightly, highlights the importance of transparency and complying with all transparency processes. The…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsIt is a pleasure to be opposite the hon. Lady once again at the Dispatch Box—two weeks after we were last here. I will do my best to answer the questions she raised, not just for…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsThe right hon. Gentleman highlights quite accurately the 94%, which was cited in the subsequent judgment and the order that flowed from it, of the contracts that were late in…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsI am grateful to my right hon. and gallant Friend for his question. He is absolutely right to highlight that our No. 1 priority, as I think the people of this country and Members…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsI refer the hon. Lady, once again, to the answer I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough. I also highlight that, to the best of my recollection, no court and no…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy hon. Friend makes an important point in his usual very forthright and clear way. The priority for this Government and for those working for them was to get the PPE needed in…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsIt is a pleasure to see my hon. Friend, and I hope it will not be too long before we see him in person in the House again. He is absolutely right to highlight the overall priority…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsAs I alluded to on the previous occasion I came to this House to answer questions on this matter, we set out that some contracts were put forward by Members of this House and by…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsThe Government will meet their legal obligations to publish contracts under regulation 50 and the requirements that that places on us for the information that needs to be…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. The people of this country would expect the Government’s No. 1 priority in March, April and May of last year to have been, as it was, to move…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsI am grateful to the hon. Lady. I have highlighted just how important I consider transparency to be. This is the second time in two weeks, rightly, that I have been answering at…09 Mar 2021HANSARD Covid-19: Government’s Publication of ContractsWhat this Government have done, and did in the context of the issues under discussion in this specific question, is recognise the huge need for PPE during the pandemic last year…09 Mar 2021