Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dave Robertson and Georgia Gould

Monday 2nd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

T5. The ministerial team will be aware that schools in the Arthur Terry learning partnership across my constituency and six others in the west midlands saw nine days of strike action in January and February. The trust was consulting on staff cuts because it had a multimillion-pound hole in its budget, a hole that senior leaders put down to a mistake in the finances. I am glad that there is now new leadership in place at the Arthur Terry learning partnership, but what steps can our Government take to ensure that trusts are held to account much more strongly than they currently are?

[Georgia Gould]

I really appreciate the way in which my hon. Friend has been working closely with me on this issue. The Department sets clear financial management expectations for trusts through funding agreements in the academy trust handbook, and we are bringing in inspections of multi-academy trusts to ensure good governance and financial management.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dave Robertson and Georgia Gould

Thursday 6th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Georgia Gould)]

With permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 17 and 20 together�while the rest of the ministerial team go and have a cup of tea.

The wide-ranging interest in this topic shows just how much the �400 billion spent on procurement in the public sector matters for growth and for communities across the UK. I was recently in Grimsby, where small businesses are delivering local growth, innovating and providing more than half of local employment. MPs know that SMEs are vital for providing local employment in their communities. Under the previous Government, however, we became overly reliant on large consultants and a small number of big companies. We have too often ended up locked into expensive, poor performing contracts, with companies able to drive up prices in closed markets. That has to change. The new national procurement policy statement asks the public sector to maximise procurement spend with small and medium-sized enterprises, and the Government are leading the way by setting ambitious public targets for Departments on spending on SMEs.

[Dave Robertson]

I am glad that I am at the front of this particular queue, Mr Speaker.

Right across the country we have amazing, cutting-edge businesses, such as Great Wave AI, a start-up in my constituency that is already helping the Government to take advantage of AI. It wants to grow faster and do more work with Government Departments. What work is the Minister doing to ensure that small British start-ups can play their part in the AI revolution in government, not just mega companies such as Meta, Microsoft and Google?

[Georgia Gould]

We have been absolutely clear that there are huge opportunities for AI to support the public sector to better personalise services and save money, but we have to keep up with the speed of innovation in how we buy. I have heard from SMEs specialising in AI and digital transformation that the way we are doing procurement is too slow and too inflexible to keep up with that pace. That is why I am working with the Minister for AI and Digital Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield North (Feryal Clark), to set up a new digital commercial centre for excellence to make sure that that changes, and that we have the best innovation from my hon. Friend�s constituency and across the country in Government.