Oral Answers to Questions

Meg Hillier Excerpts
Thursday 5th December 2013

(10 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Vince Cable Portrait Vince Cable
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This distinction between big business and small business is seriously unhelpful—most big businesses have supply chains—and we should support both.

Meg Hillier Portrait Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
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Many small and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency—including in Shoreditch, which the Prime Minister calls tech city—are keen to bid for Government contracts, thereby growing, employing more people and becoming larger businesses. What is the Department doing to support them, because they face many hurdles in trying to become Government contractors?

Vince Cable Portrait Vince Cable
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The hon. Lady will find that the trend in Government procurement is very much on track to meet the 25% target for small business. It is much more difficult with devolved bodies, such as health authorities and local government, but we are working on that with the relevant Departments.