Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of minimum contract values and financial eligibility requirements in adult skills funding competitions on access to funding for small and medium-sized training providers.

As the minimum contract values and financial eligibility requirements in Adult Skills Funding competitions were set by DfE colleagues prior to the Machinery of Government transfer in April 2026, this is a joint response from DfE and DWP.

Access to Adult Skills Funding competitions for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) has been a key consideration in the commercial strategy for all current provider contracts in the Adult Skills area.

From 2022-25, DfE had an SME Action Plan in place to maximise opportunities for SMEs and all procurements had to give due consideration to the Action Plan prior to going out to market.

The following were put into place:

• Appointment of an SME champion.
• Continual review and improvement of commercial templates, processes and guidance in line with policy objectives to ensure consideration of SMEs and VCSEs throughout procurement activities and the contract lifecycle.
• Dissemination of PPNs across the department to raise awareness of the SME agenda.
• Use of market engagement to better understand and engage our supply chain, to learn from suppliers and inform our approach to procurements.
• Engagement with the SME Advisory Panel to get a clear understanding of what good practice should look like.
• Allocating sufficient time within project plans to allow for comprehensive pre-market engagement with suppliers, including SMEs and VCSEs, and encourage active participation from the sector.
• Sharing of lessons learned, to drive continuous improvement.
• Integration of SME focus into our Supplier Relationship Management programme and encouragement of our strategic suppliers to explore opportunities to sub-contract with SMEs.
• Continuing promotion of the SME agenda across the department at senior levels to increase its profile.
• Maximum use of the Social Value Model to increase supply chain diversity.
• Ongoing monitoring of SME spend across contracts and subcontracts.

Increasing access to DWP contracts for SMEs where appropriate remains a key part of the government and DWP’s commercial strategies and will be duly considered as part of the commercial strategy for any future centrally contracted competitions in the Adult Skills environment, to continue the good work above of DfE colleagues.