Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Government Contracts: Small Businesses

Thursday 23 September 2021 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government is increasing opportunities for SMEs in various ways, including publishing contract pipelines and simplifying the bidding process.
  • Latest procurement figures show 15.5 billion paid to SMEs to help deliver public services.
  • Public buyers are required to divide contracts into more accessible lots or explain why they cannot do so to match tender requirements to smaller business specialisms.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Mike Wood Con Kingswinford and South Staffordshire
Business & Trade
Context

The MP is concerned about the lack of opportunities for small businesses to bid for government contracts.

Question

What steps the Government are taking to increase opportunities for small businesses to bid for Government contracts. The latest procurement figures show that £15.5 billion was paid to SMEs to help deliver public services, but the MP is concerned about the ongoing challenges faced by smaller firms in competing with larger multinationals.

Answer from Steve Barclay

We are increasing opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in a variety of ways, from transparently publishing contract pipelines to simplifying the bidding process. The latest procurement figures show that £15.5 billion was paid to SMEs to help deliver public services, which is the highest since records began in 02013 and a £1.3 billion increase on the previous year.

Answered
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Q2 Mike Wood Con Kingswinford and South Staffordshire
Business & Trade
Context

The MP highlights that Dudley South has many innovative firms in advanced engineering but often the size of government contracts means only large multinationals can compete.

Question

Dudley South has many fantastic firms doing innovative work, particularly in world-class advanced engineering, but too often the size of Government contracts mean that only a handful of multinationals are able to compete. Will my right hon Friend do everything that he can to ensure that public procurement contracts are advertised in the smallest chunks possible so that Government and public services can take full advantage of the talents in our SMEs?

Answer from Steve Barclay

My hon Friend raises a very legitimate point, and in short, yes we will. To encourage the issue he highlights, we require public buyers to divide contracts into more accessible lots or explain why they cannot so that tender requirements can be matched to smaller business specialisms.

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