Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to expand defence procurement processes to enable greater participation by (a) advanced manufacturers in the Calder Valley valve industry and (b) other small and medium sized businesses.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a crucial place in UK defence. They are the backbone of the UK economy and are vital to delivering the innovation, expertise and agility that we need now and in the future. This is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy, as well as the Department’s Social Value policy.
We work with our largest suppliers through a network of their SME Champions, trade associations and SME representatives to ensure that smaller companies have access to opportunities in our supply chain and that our prime contractors are adopting policies, such as fair payment practices, that support small businesses working in defence. We are also introducing a new SME Commercial Pathway as part of our broader acquisition transformation. Through this pathway, Defence will increase the number of opportunities for SMEs, and make our contracting processes simpler, less onerous and faster.
This Government has already announced an ambitious but achievable target to spend £7.5 billion with SMEs by 2028 which will see direct spend increase by approximately £700 million during the next three years, and we will launch a new Office For Small Business Growth to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain, ensuring that thousands of small businesses in the UK, including those in the Calder Valley, continue to lead the way in developing the world-beating technologies and services that we will need.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact. Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests. A full departmental response is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Social media accounts are managed locally across the various departments within the Ministrt of Defence (MOD). Any costs associated with social media platforms including advertisements are also managed within individual teams’ departmental budgets. A list of the main MOD social media accounts are published on Gov.UK via the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence/about/social-media-use.