Over the last year I have been lobbied by defence contractors in Worcestershire who are concerned about the Ministry of Defence's procurement processes. I therefore took the opportunity of defence questions in the House of Commons to ask the Government what actions they are taking to increase engagement with the many small and medium-sized businesses based here in Worcestershire that supply the Ministry of Defence.
I told Defence Minister and fellow Worcestershire MP Harriet Baldwin that the MoD has a reputation amongst some suppliers of being challenging to work with and asked what she and the Government were doing to improve working relationships with local defence industry suppliers. In response, Harriet recognised the problems in the procurement processes of the MoD and assured me that the Ministry wants to increase the level of its spending that it procures from small businesses from 19% to 25%. She also pointed to the introduction of a "network of supply chain advocates to help smaller businesses through the maze of defence procurement”.
I was pleased to hear the acknowledgement of the need to improve and the targets that are in place to facilitate this improvement. I hope Worcestershire businesses will see the benefits in the coming years.