Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to (a) diversify public sector supply chains and (b) ensure greater account is given to social value in those supply chains.

In most of the markets from which the Government buys, there is plenty of competition. Where consolidation has reduced competition we take steps to encourage more.

There are now more small suppliers than ever looking to bid for Government business. As of end of November 2018, there were 44,963 registered individual users on Contracts Finder from 30,161 organisations. 20,397 of these (c. 67.6%) are SMEs. Additionally, we now encourage prime contractors to advertise subcontracting opportunities on Contracts Finder to diversify the supply chain further.