Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how Government targets for the proportion of business created in supply chains for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) under public procurement contracts apply to companies subject to mergers, acquisitions or other changes in status that take those companies out of the SME category.

The Government has a target that 33% of central government business, by direct spend and through the supply chain, will go to small and medium businesses by 2020.

We assess progress against the overall target on a regular basis, including an assessment of those companies identified as Small or Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Where companies no longer meet the statutory definition of an SME at the time of assessment, they are no longer counted.