Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2024 to Question 16510 on Public Sector: Procurement, if he will exempt SMEs from the new National Procurement Policy Statement’s requirements on (a) social value and (b) trade union recognition and access.

The government will publish a new National Procurement Policy Statement shortly. The Procurement Act, due to come into force in February 2025, requires contracting authorities to have regard to the particular barriers facing SMEs, and to consider what can be done to overcome them.