Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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300. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if a list of Departments, commercial and non-commercial State bodies and private entities that are subsidised by 50% or more with public funding, and which have implemented social clauses in public procurement contracts, will be provided in tabular form. [36525/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not centrally record the use of social clauses in public procurement contracts by public bodies. 

The inclusion of strategic, green and social policy considerations in public procurement processes is, however, a key feature of the Programme for Government. In 2019, my Department and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, developed Circular 20/2019: Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement. The Circular highlights the potential for Departments to support wider social and environmental aims through public procurement. The Circular provides a clear signal of the direction of travel towards greener public procurement. The Circular also requires Departments to incorporate relevant green procurement measures into their planning and reporting cycles, with reporting arrangements due to commence this year. An Annual Report template is due to be published by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment this year and each Department is required to report annually on progress in relation to Green Public Procurement starting with the 2020 Annual Report.

In addition, the Office of Government Procurement published an Information Note on Incorporating Social Considerations into Public Procurement in December 2018 and chairs a cross-departmental Social Considerations Advisory Group to bring together officials from policy Departments with procurement practitioners to share best practice and to facilitate the process of incorporating social and environmental considerations into public procurement.