Oral QuestionForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office

If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

Tabled: 14 July 2021Answered: 20 July 2021

Asked by

Sarah Jones

LabourCroydon West

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Answer from Hansard

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Pat McFadden)

Since the last Cabinet Office questions, new procurement rules have come into force, which will help to deliver growth, drive value for money and, crucially, give small businesses greater access to the nearly £400 billion of Government procurement. They also include stronger new powers to exclude and debar suppliers on national security and performance grounds. We are also seeking out and reducing wasteful spending, including by using artificial intelligence to go through departmental spending line by line, because it is important that taxpayer funds are used for good public service outcomes. We are seeing the initial fruits of that in the first reduction in NHS waiting lists for years.