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Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) Wednesday Volume 537 14 December 2011 No. 241 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Wednesday 14 December 2011 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2011 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through The National Archives website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/parliamentary-licence-information.htm Enquiries to The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 773 14 DECEMBER 2011 774 Mark Pawsey: It is the small businesses that often House of Commons have the greatest difficulty in accessing Government contracts, and that is because of a regulation from the Wednesday 14 December 2011 European Union. Will the Minister tell us what steps he is taking to reform EU regulations to make it easier to secure contracts with Government both at a national The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock and local level? Mr Maude: The first thing that we are doing is trying PRAYERS to ensure that the way in which we implement the European directives is sensible and not overly bureaucratic [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] and legalistic, which it usually is at the moment. The European Commission is introducing proposals to streamline and simplify the procurement directives, which we welcome. I was talking to Commissioner Barnier in Oral Answers to Questions Brussels two or three weeks ago, and he was very open to that happening. Mr Spencer: Fresh Opportunities is a company in my CABINET OFFICE constituency that supplies water drinkers to jobcentres. Sadly, though, it lost the contract. That was not because The Minister for the Cabinet Office was asked— it was inefficient or too expensive but because it could not deliver a service on a large enough scale. What can Government Procurement the Minister do to enable SMEs, which cannot operate on a national scale, to be able to deal with Government 1. Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con): What bodies? assessment he has made of the potential effects of planned changes to Government procurement on UK Mr Maude: We have two objectives here. We want to businesses bidding for contracts. [86418] buy as efficiently as we can, which, in many cases, means using the scale of Government to aggregate 6. Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con): What assessment he volume and drive down prices. In many areas of has made of the potential effects of planned changes to procurement of commodities, goods and services, we Government procurement on UK businesses bidding are able to get the price advantages of aggregation but, for contracts. [86424] none the less, involve SMEs much more in the process. We have a commitment and an aspiration to increase 7. Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con): What the value of SME business to 25% of the total. assessment he has made of the potential effects of planned changes to Government procurement on UK Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP): The businesses bidding for contracts. [86425] Minister will be aware that public procurement guidelines in Northern Ireland are set by EU directives and UK The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster regulations. Will the Minister, therefore, give a commitment General (Mr Francis Maude): On 21 November, I to work alongside the Northern Ireland Executive and announced a package of measures to transform how not to turn his back on Europe in negotiations to tackle the Government buy. We want to save money for the the issues of over-complexity, cost and red tape, as taxpayer and for suppliers and to make it easier for those are issues that are affecting local business? small and medium-sized enterprises and voluntary organisations to bid successfully. That is why we have Mr Maude: As I said, we are actively engaged with announced a pipeline of £50 billion-worth of future the European Commission in supporting the good work business opportunities. We will make it 40% quicker to that it is undertaking to streamline procurement processes, do business with Government and we will, in future, but we need to ensure—and I hope that the hon. Lady engage proactively with current and future suppliers to will do this—that the Administration in Northern Ireland discuss upcoming procurement opportunities. do not over implement the directives because we are finding that central Government and the wider public Alec Shelbrooke: Will my right hon. Friend describe sector in Great Britain tend to do that. to the SMEs in my constituency of Elmet and Rothwell where they should go if they have any problems or Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD): Notwithstanding issues with Government procurement? what the Minister said about the economies of scale, the Federation of Small Businesses has reported an increased Mr Maude: If there are problems not only in how tendency for public sector contracts to be aggregated central Government procure but across the wider public into much larger ones, thereby penalising smaller businesses. sector, I hope that my hon. Friend’s constituents will What has the Minister got to say to those small businesses? make contact with my Department through the helpline that we have set up specifically for the purpose. If they Mr Maude: There is a whole range of procurement highlight how procurements are being done that entrench opportunities that are particularly suitable for smaller the old, inefficient and anti-enterprise way of doing businesses. Even when we aggregate, that does not things, we can then intervene proactively, as we have exclude small businesses. For example, we have just let done on a number of occasions, to make improvements. the contracts for travel for the whole of Government 775 Oral Answers14 DECEMBER 2011 Oral Answers 776 and one of the successful two bidders is a very small the community grants system. We can be said to be business, which, as a result of winning that contract, delivering not on the cheap but on the expensive in the will become a much bigger one. hon. Gentleman’s constituency. Mr Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con): Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab): This year, 40,000 Can my right hon. Friend include in that assessment the households were made homeless. As we approach Christmas ability of charities and small organisations, mutuals and with today’s rise in unemployment, Shelter estimates and so on to bid for public sector contracts as providers that every two minutes someone else faces losing their of public services? May I commend the report that the home. Now we hear that Government cuts to the big Select Committee on Public Administration has published society have resulted in homeless charities facing 25% today on the big society, which recommends that the reductions in their funding. Will the Minister at least Government extend the eligibility for the VAT refund immediately agree to restore the social exclusion taskforce, scheme, which currently applies to public sector bodies, which the Government shamelessly abolished when they to charities that deliver public services under contract entered the Cabinet Office, so that in the future the with a public sector organisation? homeless and others who suffer from social exclusion will at least have a voice when he and his colleagues Mr Maude: I shall ensure that my right hon. Friend make such hard-hearted decisions? the Chancellor takes note of my hon. Friend’s suggestion. We want to make it easier for small voluntary organisations Mr Letwin: I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman and mutuals to bid successfully. One thing that we aim misunderstands the changes in the machinery of to do is to get contracts chunked up into smaller lots. government that have taken place under this Government. We have much bigger contracts, generally, than France It is perfectly true that the social exclusion taskforce has or Germany would have in equivalent circumstances, been abolished, and the reason for that is that we have which tends to militate and be biased against the interests set up instead a fully fledged first-rank Cabinet committee of smaller businesses and voluntary and charitable on social justice— organisations. Jon Trickett: It meets in secret. Social Exclusion Mr Letwin: It is not in the least secret, as the hon. 3. Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab): What Gentleman mutters from a sedentary position, in the assessment his Department has made of the role of the sense that it will produce a social justice strategy that he big society initiative in tackling social exclusion. will be able to read along with the rest of the House. I [86421] think he will find that we are putting absolutely at the centre of our activities the fostering of the big society in The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr Oliver order to help, among other things, those who are homeless. Letwin): The big society is all about building social That is also one of the reasons why we recently issued capital, which is key to solving social exclusion. There our housing strategy, which does more than the hon. are four places where most of us build the relationships Gentleman and his colleagues did in many years to try that sustain us: in the family, in school, in our communities to improve housing in this country. and at work. We are taking action to build social capital Government Documents (Disposal) in all of those through a focus on the 120,000 most troubled families, through competition and raising standards in schools, through community organisers and the 4. Jim McGovern (Dundee West) (Lab): Whether his community first initiative in communities and through Department has considered altering its guidance on the the Work programme, the rehabilitation revolution and disposal of official Government documents.
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