Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Public Procurement Contracts Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Baroness Burt of Solihull
Main Page: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Burt of Solihull's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Public Procurement Contracts
Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Callanan (Con)
The noble Lord is, of course, well aware that I am not a Minister in the Ministry of Defence, so I shall have to write to him on that.
Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD) [V]
Would the Minister agree with me that, as well as being good business, it is morally incumbent on the Government to procure from SMEs owned and run by people who look like those that they serve? If he does agree, could he explain why—despite years of lobbying from people like myself and groups representing BAME and women-owned businesses—the Government still do not know how many such businesses they are procuring from? What you do not measure, you cannot manage.
Lord Callanan (Con)
I can tell the noble Baroness that, since its launch in 2012, something like 20% of our start-up loans have gone to entrepreneurs from black, Asian and minority-ethnic backgrounds and, throughout this crisis, we have hosted a series of round tables on our wider support scheme for BAME businesses.