Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many small and medium-sized building companies have ceased trading in the financial years (1) 2024–25, (2) 2023–24, and (3) 2022–23; and what assessment have they made of the trend of these figures.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Acting National Statistician of the UK Statistics Authority.
Emma Rourke | Acting National Statistician
The Lord Mawson OBE
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
2 June 2025
Dear Lord Mawson,
As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many small and medium-sized building companies have ceased trading in the financial years (1) 2024–25, (2) 2023–24, and (3) 2022–23; and what assessment has been made of the trend of these figures (HL7770).
Using the quarterly business demography release[1], we can show, in Table 1, the number of businesses which were classified to the construction industry which have ceased trading in the financial years listed. Figures for building companies are not separately available so the wider aggregation of the construction industry has been used. This consists of construction of buildings, civil engineering, and specialised construction activities. These figures are classified as ‘official statistics in development’.
Table 1: Number of businesses classified to the construction industry which have ceased trading in the financial years 2022/23 – 2024/25.
Financial year | Number of business closures within the Construction industry |
2022/23 | 46,505 |
2023/24 | 40,700 |
2024/25 | 39,235 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
It is not possible to show these figures for small and medium sized enterprises only since this breakdown is not available from the quarterly release. However, figures from our 2024 UK Business: activity, size and location dataset[2] show that small and medium sized enterprises, taken to be businesses with employment less than 250, make up 99.9 per cent of businesses in the construction industry.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) makes no estimate of the trend of these figures.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Rourke
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number and percentage of hereditary Peers in the House of Lords with experience of running and growing a business, and how this compares with the rest of the House; what assessment they have made of the impact of the removal of hereditary Peers from the House of Lords on its scrutiny of legislation and its role in holding the Government to account; and what steps they are taking to ensure that relevant business experience is maintained in the House.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government recognises and values the contributions hereditary peers have made to the House of Lords.
The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill delivers the Government’s manifesto commitment to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords, completing the work of the House of Lords Act 1999. In the 21st century there should not be places reserved in the legislature for people born into certain families.
The Government is supportive of the inclusion of individuals from all backgrounds in the House of Lords and believes the second chamber is enriched by members who bring diverse experience and expertise. This includes members with business experience.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in relation to the social value elements of large procurement contracts by government departments or bodies wholly-owned by His Majesty's Government, to what extent they assess tenders by evaluating (1) the absolute number of social value programmes the successful bidder will undertake, and (2) the impact and effectiveness of the social value programme; and what assessment they have made of the relative impact of each form of evaluation.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Social Value Act 2012 was designed to improve procurement practice and diversify suppliers to the government. Implementation is the responsibility of individual public service commissioners. The Social Value Model is the latest government intervention that is enabling the government to evaluate social value policy in the central government.
The Social Value Model launched in January 2021 (PPN 06/20), standardises the assessment of bidder’s proposals for delivering social value outcomes based on government’s priorities. The Model takes into account factors such as the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain and improving community integration.
Implementation of the Model across central government is underpinned by a detailed training programme, and central government departments are now required to report supplier social value commitments against Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether Civil Service processes to measure social value are having a positive impact on the lives of poor communities; and how they ensure that previous processes which were unsuccessful are not repeated.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Social Value Act 2012 was designed to improve procurement practice and diversify suppliers to the government. Implementation is the responsibility of individual public service commissioners. The Social Value Model is the latest government intervention that is enabling the government to evaluate social value policy in the central government.
The Social Value Model launched in January 2021 (PPN 06/20), standardises the assessment of bidder’s proposals for delivering social value outcomes based on government’s priorities. The Model takes into account factors such as the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain and improving community integration.
Implementation of the Model across central government is underpinned by a detailed training programme, and central government departments are now required to report supplier social value commitments against Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to measure the success of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Social Value Act 2012 was designed to improve procurement practice and diversify suppliers to the government. Implementation is the responsibility of individual public service commissioners. The Social Value Model is the latest government intervention that is enabling the government to evaluate social value policy in the central government.
The Social Value Model launched in January 2021 (PPN 06/20), standardises the assessment of bidder’s proposals for delivering social value outcomes based on government’s priorities. The Model takes into account factors such as the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain and improving community integration.
Implementation of the Model across central government is underpinned by a detailed training programme, and central government departments are now required to report supplier social value commitments against Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the factors that are delaying the integration of public services, and (2) the cost to the taxpayer of such delays.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The new Central Digital and Data Office is currently working with government departments to assess digital, data and technology capability.
In recent years, there have been significant changes to the way organisations provide services and to user expectations. It’s now commonplace for services to be:
personalised and proactive;
low-friction;
available on any device and multiple channels, like voice assistant.
Economic benefits have been measured through case study examples of integrated public services. Analysis of these found the monetizable benefits in avoiding users repeating tasks ranged from £50k to £850k per service, depending on its purpose.
Delivering integrated services is key to the government’s approach to digital transformation. The government is committed to increasing the cost-efficiency and quality of online public services.
The UK participates annually in the EU National Interoperability Framework Observatory. This provides regular monitoring of the state of play of interoperability and digital public services in Europe, enabling contributor countries to share best practices and measure their performance.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the public sector in England has the necessary (1) skills, (2) knowledge, and (3) institutional memory, to develop more integrated public services; what evidence has informed any such assessment; and what training is planned for (a) civil servants, and (b) other public sector officials, on this subject.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The new Central Digital and Data Office is currently working with government departments to assess digital, data and technology capability.
In recent years, there have been significant changes to the way organisations provide services and to user expectations. It’s now commonplace for services to be:
personalised and proactive;
low-friction;
available on any device and multiple channels, like voice assistant.
Economic benefits have been measured through case study examples of integrated public services. Analysis of these found the monetizable benefits in avoiding users repeating tasks ranged from £50k to £850k per service, depending on its purpose.
Delivering integrated services is key to the government’s approach to digital transformation. The government is committed to increasing the cost-efficiency and quality of online public services.
The UK participates annually in the EU National Interoperability Framework Observatory. This provides regular monitoring of the state of play of interoperability and digital public services in Europe, enabling contributor countries to share best practices and measure their performance.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK's performance in delivery of the integration of public services; and of how this performance compares to that of EU member states.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The new Central Digital and Data Office is currently working with government departments to assess digital, data and technology capability.
In recent years, there have been significant changes to the way organisations provide services and to user expectations. It’s now commonplace for services to be:
personalised and proactive;
low-friction;
available on any device and multiple channels, like voice assistant.
Economic benefits have been measured through case study examples of integrated public services. Analysis of these found the monetizable benefits in avoiding users repeating tasks ranged from £50k to £850k per service, depending on its purpose.
Delivering integrated services is key to the government’s approach to digital transformation. The government is committed to increasing the cost-efficiency and quality of online public services.
The UK participates annually in the EU National Interoperability Framework Observatory. This provides regular monitoring of the state of play of interoperability and digital public services in Europe, enabling contributor countries to share best practices and measure their performance.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential cost savings of integrated public services.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The new Central Digital and Data Office is currently working with government departments to assess digital, data and technology capability.
In recent years, there have been significant changes to the way organisations provide services and to user expectations. It’s now commonplace for services to be:
personalised and proactive;
low-friction;
available on any device and multiple channels, like voice assistant.
Economic benefits have been measured through case study examples of integrated public services. Analysis of these found the monetizable benefits in avoiding users repeating tasks ranged from £50k to £850k per service, depending on its purpose.
Delivering integrated services is key to the government’s approach to digital transformation. The government is committed to increasing the cost-efficiency and quality of online public services.
The UK participates annually in the EU National Interoperability Framework Observatory. This provides regular monitoring of the state of play of interoperability and digital public services in Europe, enabling contributor countries to share best practices and measure their performance.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether there is increasing demand from the public for more integrated public services.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The new Central Digital and Data Office is currently working with government departments to assess digital, data and technology capability.
In recent years, there have been significant changes to the way organisations provide services and to user expectations. It’s now commonplace for services to be:
personalised and proactive;
low-friction;
available on any device and multiple channels, like voice assistant.
Economic benefits have been measured through case study examples of integrated public services. Analysis of these found the monetizable benefits in avoiding users repeating tasks ranged from £50k to £850k per service, depending on its purpose.
Delivering integrated services is key to the government’s approach to digital transformation. The government is committed to increasing the cost-efficiency and quality of online public services.
The UK participates annually in the EU National Interoperability Framework Observatory. This provides regular monitoring of the state of play of interoperability and digital public services in Europe, enabling contributor countries to share best practices and measure their performance.