In a written statement published on Wednesday, Cabinet Office parliamentary secretary Georgia Gould said: “The new Act allows us to investigate suppliers and, if certain grounds are met, to add their names to a published and centrally managed debarment list, which must be taken into account by contracting authorities in awarding new contracts and undertaking new procurements.
In its update, the Government said it is “committed to delivering meaningful change as quickly as possible” but that “given the scale of further change needed, including legislative, we intend to deliver these further reforms using a three-phased approach over the course of this Parliament”.
Seven firms criticised in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry final report could face being banned from public contracts, as the Government pledged to bring change in the wake of the fatal fire.
This would “create a new conflict of interest within the regulator”, the Government said, and it will instead work to strengthen oversight of existing bodies through reforms to the construction products regime.
Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick had concluded that the devastating fire, which claimed 72 lives, was the result of “decades of failure” by government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
