Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when developing his Department’s policy on local authority procurement policies and companies’ investment and divestment decisions announced on 3 October 2015.

Matthew Hancock

Cabinet Office will shortly issue guidance that reminds public authorities of their international obligations when letting public contracts. Foreign policy is not a matter for local authorities. The guidance will make clear that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate and may be illegal, outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions that have been put in place by the Government.