Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 13
13
Accepted in Part
Set a 10% target for public contracts awarded to female-led businesses by Parliament end.
Recommendation
The Government should set itself a target for the proportion of public contracts awarded to female-led businesses similar to initiatives in Canada, the US and Nordic countries. Given the low base we suggest a target of at least 10% by the end of this Parliament. The proposed new Office should have responsibility for driving this reform and provide training and support to help female founders navigate public procurement processes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 57) 54
Government Response Summary
The government accepts in part, stating that central government departments must set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs and two-year targets for VCSEs, which they claim will benefit female-led businesses. However, they do not commit to a specific target for female-led businesses as recommended.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
The Procurement Act 2023 introduced a new duty for Contracting Authorities to consider SMEs when designing their procurements, for example by prohibiting onerous insurance requirements, and designing lotting structures that make procurements more accessible to smaller organisations, including female-led businesses fitting within this size criteria. The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) sets the Government’s strategic priorities for public procurement in support of the Government’s missions. This includes driving economic growth and strengthening supply chains by giving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) a fair chance at public contracts. To enable implementation of the NPPS and take forward commitments in the Plan for Small Business, all central government departments (including executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs)) must set a three-year target for direct spend with SMEs (from 1 April 2025) and a two-year target for direct spend with VCSEs (from 1 April 2026) and report results annually. These will benefit SME female-led businesses. These targets will be published shortly. The Cabinet Office’s consultation on procurement reform closed on 5 September. This included proposals to open up more opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs), which are vital for driving the UK economy. These measures will support SME female-led business. We aim to bring forward a package of reforms on this shortly.