Speaking in a House of Commons debate on 12th September, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence Harriet Baldwin MP reiterated the UK Government’s commitment to see 25% of defence spending go to small and medium sized enterprises by 2020.
Ms Baldwin said: “Small businesses are crucial for growth and innovation in this country, and we want them to take an increasing share of our growing defence budget. We are committed to achieving 25% of our procurement spend being with small and medium-sized enterprises by 2020. That target is 10% higher than the one set during the last Parliament.”
The minister explained that this pledge would include measures to encourage prime contractors to engage with SMEs.
She commented: “It is essential that we work on that not only in our direct defence procurement process but with our supply chains. I am delighted to be able to let the House know that the Supply Chain Advocate Network and the Supply Chain Champions, which my predecessor announced, are well underway, and that last year the Ministry of Defence was able to have direct spend with almost 5,000 different companies.”
Ms Baldwin added: “In our Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), we clearly set out the largest programme of investment in ships for some time, and there will be a lot of long lead-time items. Small business and producers will be able to work with those who are procuring contracts with prime contractors to find a place in that supply chain.”
Another way in which the Government was ready to promote defence spend, Ms Baldwin explained, was through reduction in procurement bureaucracy.
She said: “This year we removed the turnover requirement in the pre-qualification process, and we are working towards simplifying the contract terms and reducing them to just three pages.”
The Minister concluded: “In our SDSR, we set out a programme in which we are investing in more ships and more aeroplanes, and there is more cyber-investment. We will do everything we can with those long lead-time items and the programmes that have been set out in advance to ensure that British companies, including British Steel companies,have all the information they need to be successful.”
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Harriet Baldwin MP Innovation SDSR SME supply chain UK Government
Post written by: Vicky Maggiani
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