Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure UK SMEs are able to compete with global tech companies in G-Cloud procurement.

Public sector procurers are required to seek value for money through fair and open competition and in line with our current international obligations.

We want UK companies to be successful in public procurement, we also want to ensure that the barriers for SMEs to win public sector contracts are as low as possible.

G-Cloud supports a thriving ecosystem of UK tech SMEs that have succeeded in winning business through the Digital Marketplace, with more than 90% of the 3505 G-Cloud 10 suppliers being SMEs. G-Cloud has a low barrier to entry for all suppliers, including SMEs and is refreshed on an annual basis with supplier evaluation based on a suppliers declaration against a number of key criteria. Therefore the majority of suppliers - providing they sell services which align to the scope of the agreement - are able to apply and be awarded a place on G-Cloud framework agreements.