§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the achievements of his Department and his policies in helping small businesses over the last 12 months relative to the previous 12 months; and if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring.
§ Mr. AitkenFurther to the reply given to my hon. Friend on 24 July 1991, at column452, I can inform him that our new suppliers service has given marketing advice to about 2,500 companies over the past 12 months. Dealings are by post or telephone and at various seminars, exhibitions and meet-the-buyer events around the country.
In February 1992, the MOD introduced a new, fortnightly contracts bulletin setting out works services opportunities for property management and construction. This has been very well received by the construction industry and is proving to be an invaluable aid to small companies which might otherwise be unaware of the MOD's requirements in this sector.
During 1991–92, about 35 defence research contracts, with a total value of £966,000, were placed under our small firms research initiative. Details of other payments made to small firms during 1991–92 are not yet available, but during 1990–91, 6,109 small companies secured headquarters contracts valued at a total of £1.15 billion, of which about half was paid to companies with fewer than 50 employees. In the same period, Ministry of Defence establishments awarded 226,173 local purchase orders, valued at around £103 million, to small companies.