Parliament’s spending watchdog today published a report calling for Government to make a more concerted effort to spend more with small and medium size businesses, rather than procuring solely from large providers.

The Public Accounts Committee, of which Don Valley MP Caroline Flint is a member, warns that the Government has ‘lost momentum’ in its drive to increase the proportion of its spending with SMEs. The Government spends around £45 billion annually on goods and services from the private sector.

Ms Flint said: “The Government set itself a target of spending 33% of its budget with small and medium sized businesses by 2020 but it is not clear how they plan to achieve this.  When Government spends taxpayers’ money, it should be thinking about the impact that this has, not just the end result.

Small and medium sized businesses are the beating heart of our community and local economy in Doncaster. Government should be making every effort to spend more with them, to stimulate competition and create jobs, rather than relying on larger providers dominating”.

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