Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Ward and Liz Twist

Thursday 25th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)]

14. What steps he is taking to help support small and medium-sized businesses through reforms to public procurement.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chris Ward)]

This Government are determined to ensure that public procurement backs small and medium-sized businesses. That is why we have strengthened late payment rules, have set ambitious targets for all Departments to spend more with small and medium-sized enterprises—totalling £7 billion by 2028—and are simplifying the entire system to ensure that SMEs get a fairer crack. We are working with the Federation of Small Businesses on this, and there is much more to come.

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[Chris Ward]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight small businesses like the one in her constituency. As I announced in March, small businesses will now receive just over £7 billion a year from government procurement, as a result of reforms that we have put in place. That will support the industrial strategy that she mentioned. It will mean more money, jobs and opportunities in local communities—a lot done, and a lot more to do in this space.

[Liz Twist]

Dellner Glass Solutions, one of the SMEs in my constituency of Blaydon and Consett, has been manufacturing aluminium and glass fabrications for over 50 years. It supplies window and door systems to the UK’s world-leading bus manufacturing market. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that reforms to public procurement support the growth of companies like Dellner Glass Solutions across the UK bus manufacturing supply chain?

[Chris Ward]

A number of colleagues, including my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank), have raised this subject several times with me, and I am working with Department for Transport colleagues to see what more we can do to support British manufacturers, but we are already acting. We have announced a 10-year pipeline with over £70 million of funding for zero emission buses. We are also working on redefining social value to ensure that it does more to support local communities and local jobs. That should help companies like Dellner Glass Solutions stand out when it comes to public procurement.