§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the achievements of(a) his policies and (b) his Department in helping small businesses over the last 12 months as against the previous 12 months; if he will publish the performance indicators by which his Department monitors those achievements and the statistical results of such monitoring; and if he will set out his targets to help small businesses in the next year.
§ Mr. AitkenThe Government continue to place a high priority on helping small businesses through improvements to the business climate, through deregulation and through specific programmes of support and assistance.
Measures operated by my Department to assist small businesses include:
1. The services of the New Suppliers Service (NSS) which meets and corresponds regularly with several thousand suppliers each year, a very large proportion of which are small firms, offering advice on ways in which they can bring their goods and services to the attention of our buyers. The NSS also supports the Training and Enterprise Councils which provide business counselling and support small businesses.2. We continue to promote the many opportunities which exist to sell to my Department by publicising contracts in various publications including the Defence Contracts Bulletin, which is a particularly useful source of sub-contract opportunities.3. Businesses of various sizes have been successful in tendering competitively for the provision of contracted-out services for the Department.4. My Department is systematically reviewing its contracting processes to ensure that all administrative procedures are still required and to reduce any unnecessary burdens on businesses. When considering new contracting policies and procedures, we take particular account of the implications for businesses of all sizes.