Defence Equipment: Procurement
(asked on 2nd June 2015) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized manufacturers benefit from his Department's procurement of defence equipment.
This question was answered on 8th June 2015
Small businesses provide an important source of innovation and flexibility in meeting defence requirements.
The Department has a target to spend at least 15% of our equipment and support budget with small and medium-sized enterprises. But in 2013-14, I am pleased to confirm we exceeded this target, spending 19.4%: some £1 billion directly with SMEs, and £3 billion indirectly through the supply chain.