Attorney General written question – answered at on 24 July 2017.
Jon Trickett
Shadow Minister (Cabinet Office), Shadow Lord President of the Council
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of public procurement contracts the Law Officers' Departments awarded through framework agreements in each year since 2010.
Jeremy Wright
The Attorney-General
The Government Legal Department (GLD), Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) do not hold central records of the number of bids received for each contract (3982). In addition, while it is their policy to use frameworks (e.g. those established by the Crown Commercial Service, government departments or public sector bodies) either through direct award or through a mini-competition, we do not hold a central record that would enable us to determine the proportion of purchases/contracts made through these framework agreements (4012). We are therefore unable to provide the information without examining the detail of each contract award/purchase made and this could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Similarly, the information requested (3982 and 4012) is not collated centrally at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and could only be obtained through a manual search of records, which would incur a disproportionate cost.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not keep a consolidated central record of the number of bids received for each contract (3982) or of which contracts are awarded via framework agreements (4012). To answer both these questions would involve separately checking all contracts awarded since 2010 and would incur disproportionate cost (Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, part 2, Clause 9).
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
The Attorney General, assisted by the Solicitor General, is the chief legal adviser to the Government. The Attorney General also has certain public interest functions, for example, in taking action to protect charities.
The Attorney General has overall responsibility for The Treasury Solicitor's Department, superintends the Director of Public Prosecutions as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland. The Law Officers answer for these Departments in Parliament.
The Attorney General and the Solicitor General also deal with questions of law arising on Government Bills and with issues of legal policy. They are concerned with all major international and domestic litigation involving the Government and questions of European Community and International Law as they may affect Her Majesty's Government.
see also, http://www.lslo.gov.uk/
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
