Recommendation 27

The NAO report highlighted the value of departments considering how a contract will contribute to meeting key social priorities such a fighting climate change, creating jobs and promoting innovation.48 We questioned how much consideration has been given to using government’s immense purchasing power to encourage business to behave in a way that meets government’s other objectives. The GCF described three things that it had felt appropriate to mandate: first, that government will not deal with businesses that do not pay their suppliers promptly; second, that the GCF had introduced a requirement for suppliers for contracts over £5 million to have a net zero policy in place and a target for that; and third, that there is a modern slavery exclusion.49