Hold a public inquiry into Government contracts granted during Covid-19
This petition gathered 126,876 signatures between 3 September 2020 and 3 March 2021, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 5 January 2021. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 21 June 2021.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Hold a public inquiry into Government contracts granted during Covid-19
There should be a public inquiry into Government contracts granted during Covid-19. Many contracts have been granted without full and open procurement processes. A public inquiry would be able to ascertain whether contracts had been procured fairly and represent value for money for tax payers.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 5 January 2021; the petitions site lists the Cabinet Office as responsible. Its summary:
The National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog reported on Government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government has published a statement on GOV.UK.
The opening 395 words of the 571-word response:
The National Audit Office has published its report relating to government procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic covering the period up to 31 July 2020. This includes, among other things, an examination of procurement activity during the pandemic and the Government’s management of procurement risks. The report will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny by the Public Accounts Committee in the usual way. The Government published a statement available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-on-government-procurement-following-this-weeks-nao-report.
More generally, the Government has always been clear that there will be opportunities to look back, analyse and reflect on all aspects of COVID-19. This will include an independent inquiry at the appropriate time. For now the Government is focused entirely on responding to the pandemic and saving lives, particularly as the country is experiencing a second wave of the virus. That being the case, it would be premature at this stage to attempt to define the inquiry's eventual terms of reference.
Governments around the world faced unprecedented demand for essential goods, services and works due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All public authorities in the UK, including the UK Government and devolved administrations, had to move quickly.
Working with the private sector has been a vital part of the Government’s response to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, with private sector workers standing alongside those from the public sector on the front line. Indeed, the private sector has assisted us to deliver over 15,000 ventilators in under four months to support the NHS; procure almost 32 billion items of PPE for frontline workers; and we now have the capacity to process over 530,000 tests a day.
Being able to procure at speed has been critical in the Government’s response to COVID-19 and at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak, we made it clear to all public authorities that they may need to procure new services with extreme urgency. This is not a change to the public procurement regulations; there are already well-established procedures in the Public Contracts Regulations for handling extremely urgent procurements and they have been used by a variety of public authorities including the UK Government, and devolved administrations. Other countries, including Japan, Finland and New Zealand, followed similar urgent procurement processes.
We also made it clear that authorities must continue to achieve value for money for taxpayers, use good commercial judgement and publish the details of any awards made, in line with Government transparency guidelines.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 916, came from Bristol West.
125,291 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,585 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Bristol West | 916 |
| Brighton, Pavilion | 810 |
| Liverpool, Riverside | 693 |
| Manchester, Withington | 665 |
| Hove | 647 |
| Hackney North and Stoke Newington | 565 |
| Hornsey and Wood Green | 565 |
| Edinburgh North and Leith | 499 |
| Bootle | 498 |
| Cambridge | 491 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| North West | 18,086 |
| South East | 17,076 |
| London | 17,002 |
| South West | 12,728 |
| Scotland | 10,444 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 9,856 |
| East of England | 9,789 |
| West Midlands | 7,529 |
| Wales | 7,177 |
| East Midlands | 7,101 |
| North East | 5,158 |
| Northern Ireland | 896 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 21 June 2021. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/328408.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
3c759e5bf6c3d18c… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.