§ 16. Mr. Bellinghamasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the number of small firms which (a) tendered for and (b) received contracts for amounts less than £10,000 in 1983–84.
§ Mr. LeeMinistry of Defence policy is not to discriminate between large and small firms as such. Consequently, at this stage, there is no requirement to distinguish between the size of firms which tender for, or win, MOD contracts. In 1982–83 MOD headquarters placed some 30,000 contracts for values less than £10,000 and small firms secured a significant proportion of these. The figures for 1983–84 are still being evaluated but are not likely to be very much different.
§ Mr. BellinghamI am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the MOD could still do more to help small businesses, especially by instructing main contractors to devote more of their subcontracts to smaller businesses?
§ Mr. LeeWe want very much to encourage more competition among subcontractors. I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the excellent booklet entitled "Selling to the MOD". About 35,000 copies of that booklet have been distributed. This has produced a substantial and marked increase in inquiries.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesDoes the hon. Gentleman agree that one of the greatest dangers to small contractors and subcontractors is a mergers trend, such as the GEC-British Aerospace merger, within the defence industry, and that the more mergers there are among larger firms, the more smaller firms will be gobbled up?
§ Mr. LeeThe biggest danger to the defence budget would be the Labour party's plans to reduce defence expenditure, which would affect defence contractors. We want to encourage small firms to compete. At the same time, we must have an eye to the success of our large firms in the international market.