I accept the hon. Lady’s point, but there are other circumstances to consider, which I have just outlined.
We are already working with industry to discourage the withholding of retentions by supporting zero retention for high-quality work pilot projects and reducing the default rate of retentions within certain types of contract to zero. However, we do not support dictating the operation of construction contracts to the degree proposed.
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Amendment 68 was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose). We very much understand the reasons why he is behind this proposal, and we agree about the value of a systematic evaluation of public contracts. We welcome the constructive conversations he has had with Baroness Neville-Rolfe in the Lords and with the Paymaster General in this place. We are not going to accept the amendment, as the Government are already committed to the evaluation of public contracts in order to improve supplier performance and inform decisions on future requirements. The Bill will ensure that contracting authorities have the data they need to drive value for money and identify cost savings in their procurements by, among other things, the Bill’s contract review provisions, based on the publication of key performance indicators for public contracts over £5 million.
The introduction of an external assessment of even a small percentage of public contracts will significantly increase the regulatory burden for contracting authorities, given the sheer volume of public contracts. The Bill needs to strike a balance between the regulatory burden in terms of time and effort, and effective targeted evaluation of public contracts. The Bill sets out the minimum evaluation requirements for all types of contracts. Contracting authorities will have the flexibility to adopt
wider or deeper methods of evaluating contracts in a proportionate manner. However, we are very happy to continue to work with my hon. Friend on what we can do to facilitate his ideas outside placing them in the Bill.
In conclusion, based on the reasons I have given, I respectfully ask that Members do not press their amendments to a vote, but I thank them for their contributions.
Question put and agreed to.
New clause 15 accordingly read a Second time, and added to the Bill