Somewhat contradicting Alex Depledge, the Government’s appointed Entrepreneurship Advisor, who has been dismissive of SMEs saying that the Government should focus on start-ups and scale-ups, the Government’s latest release calls SMEs “the engine room” behind its “number one mission” of growth.

Through Backing your business: our plan for small and medium-sized businesses the Government, and DESNZ, are looking to help support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

So joined up think as ever. Anyway, the main idea, and it’s a good one, is to give SMEs a fairer hand in winning public contracts and setting “ambitious SME targets for each department”. These include departmental targets for direct spend with SMEs and the actions being taken to remove and reduce barriers to SMEs bidding for contracts.

Continuing work started by the Conservative government in the Procurement Act, all departments will now come under increasing pressure to utilise SME services. DESNZ, for its part, notes “SMEs are a vital part of those sectors. They may have been set up to respond to new challenges and take advantage of nascent opportunities with new products, services and technologies. Their small size may allow them to respond more quickly and trial potential alternatives to existing solutions, which may stimulate growth in their sector. The growth of small businesses can help reduce harmful environmental effects, offer jobs in industries that need more skilled workers, and create employment opportunities in local communities to spread the benefits across the country.”

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