To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 13 of the Defence Supply Chain Strategy, published in November 2022, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the clothing inventory sourced from China is (a) ethically sourced and (b) does not include the use of forced labour in its production.
Answered on
13 December 2023
It is longstanding policy that the use of slave labour is a mandatory exclusion from contracts with the Ministry of Defence; this policy is currently captured within the Procurement Contract Regulations (2015). In line with this policy the current suppliers of clothing follow a code of practice under which cotton sourced from countries or regions at high risk of forced labour or child labour is prohibited, including the Xinjiang province of China. This is subject to regular review, and inspections of overseas suppliers are performed to ensure adherence to this policy.