Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 25 May 2023.
Jim Shannon
Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Human Rights), Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Health)
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to help support companies registered in Northern Ireland compete for UK-wide public contracts.
Alex Burghart
The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office
The Procurement Bill, currently being debated by Parliament, will create a simpler and more transparent public procurement regime that will make it easier for suppliers to bid for UK public contracts. Contracting authorities in Northern Ireland are included within the scope of the Bill, so companies registered in Northern Ireland will be able to compete for opportunities from those authorities as well as those on the UK mainland. Companies in Northern Ireland can already access UK public contracting opportunities worth over £12K on Contracts Finder.
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
