Buying time for British manufacturers

Our next meeting discusses procurement, an issue which I know is important for many manufacturers – particularly SMEs – across the country. Recent events, most notably the example of Bombardier, have shown that the UK needs to be smarter in the ways that it uses procurement to support domestic industry. While the promise by the government to review the way that contracts are written is welcomed, more needs to be done sooner rather than later. For that reason, the Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group called a meeting on this subject for September. We hope that by bringing together politicians, trade bodies, business owners and unions, we can begin to create a dialogue on procurement. I recently met with a manufacturer in my constituency who raised the problems that his business has had with inconsistent procurement procedures across local authorities. Clear guidance and rules across the public sector are one way that we can help manufacturers. However, there are also opportunities to be had through innovative new methods such as e-procurement, which I know that the government is already looking at closely. The Office of Government Commerce will soon be creating a central portal for businesses to be able to use to access a range of government contracts, large and small. This, coupled with a commitment to award at least 25% of all contracts to SMEs, is a positive start. I hope that our meeting will be able to put forward new ideas and recommendations for the government to consider in support of British manufacturing. Although the meeting will have taken place by the time this is published, if you have ideas or experiences that you feel are relevant, please email them to me at chris.white.mp@parliament.uk.