§ Mrs. RocheTo ask the Secretary of Social Security what percentage of his Department's expenditure in 1994–95 was spent on procuring goods or services from small and medium enterprises. [1955]
§ Mr. BurtWe do not collect information on the size of companies who supply the DSS with goods and services.
However, we are pursuing a number of procurement initiatives which should help small businesses. These include ensuring that we minimise the paperwork burden for prospective suppliers, and involvement in the HM Treasury's central unit on procurement working group on SME's—small and medium enterprises.