SMEs hold the key to the digitisation of the public sector

The government has been committed to bringing more SMEs into the public sector since 2010, when Prime Minister Cameron appointed Lord Young of Graffham as enterprise adviser with the remit of overcoming the government's "institutional bias" against small and medium sized businesses.

The government has since committed to spending 33% of public sector procurement directly with SMEs by 2022, with plenty of great policies being implemented during the last decade to open up public sector work to SMEs. However, the latest independent estimate by the FSB suggests that SMEs are involved in only 19% of procurement, so more work needs to be done.

In this report we have put our heads together to come up with new ideas to help the government hit its target.

Emma Jones, the SME Crown Representative and prominent campaigning voice for small businesses, has read the report and welcomes the recommendations we have made. “It is great to see Brightman shedding light on the challenges faced by SMEs when seeking to work with the government, and I welcome the many recommendations they have put forward.”

We welcome further feedback on our recommendations.

Download the report type: asset-hyperlink id: 3BhQGOAaa2uPzvOqyHZpXa and let us know what you think.