Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing the minimum weighting for social value in public contracts worth £5 million or more from 10 per cent to 20 per cent on the ability of small and medium-sized businesses in rural areas to compete for Government contracts.

The Government is committed to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises across the country, including in rural areas and its social value policy is designed to take into account the excellent contribution small businesses make to economic growth. The £5m threshold and 20% weighting reflects that SMEs typically bid for contracts below that threshold.