Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to enable social enterprises to compete for government contracts.

The government supports social enterprises and public service mutuals (the vast majority of which are social enterprises) to access government contracts in a number of ways, such as encouraging commissioners to consider different ways of procuring through the Social Value Act and the Commissioning Academy.

The £10m Investment and Contract Readiness Fund also provides business support to social enterprises looking to take on social investment and public sector contracts, whilst the £10m Mutual Support Programme provides further comprehensive support for public service mutuals.