Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes he plans to make to rules governing SME procurement in public contracts, in the context of the Spring Statement 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is taking major steps to give SMEs greater access to public contracts - including the publication of the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) which sets out a mission-led procurement regime focused on driving economic growth that supports Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSEs), giving them greater opportunities to win public contracts by instructing contracting authorities to maximise their spend with these organisations. To support implementation of the NPPS in central government, we have announced new rules requiring all government departments and their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs from 1 April 2025, and from 1 April 2026 for VCSEs, and publish progress annually.
We will be consulting on more reforms including a requirement for large contracting authorities to publish their three-year targets for small business and social enterprise spend and report on this annually - as well as the exclusion of suppliers from contracts worth more than £5million if they don’t complete prompt payments of invoices.
In the Spring Statement, the Chancellor also announced measures to reform our procurement system to give small businesses across the UK better access to Ministry of Defence contracts.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 634, if he will make an assessment of the potential contribution of (a) GCHQ and (b) the Golden Valley Development in Cheltenham to the UK’s (i) intelligence services and (ii) cyber security expertise and capabilities as part of the upcoming national security strategy.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister announced a single national security strategy will be published ahead of the NATO Summit in June. This will bring together the national security related reviews underway. As part of creating this strategy, the drafters will consult with relevant Departments and Agencies, including intelligence services.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of relocating civil service offices to Cheltenham via the Places for Growth Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We are working with departments on their future workforce and location plans as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of relocating civil servants working on cyber security and technology to be closer to the cyber industry in Cheltenham as part of the Places for Growth Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We are working with departments on their future plans as part of the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding the Government has allocated for spending on advertising (a) in total and (b) by Department over the next Parliament.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office operates spend control on behalf of HMT on an annual basis. During this process departments and ALBs submit an overview of any spend (including marketing and advertising) planned for the next financial year.
Historical data on advertising spend is listed by department on the Government efficiency, transparency and accountability page on GOV.uk.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding the Government allocated to spend on advertising in each year since 2015, broken down by Department.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office operates spend control on behalf of HMT on an annual basis. During this process departments and ALBs submit an overview of any spend (including marketing and advertising) planned for the next financial year.
Historical data on advertising spend is listed by department on the Government efficiency, transparency and accountability page on GOV.uk.