West Dorset MP Chris Loder has urged the Government Efficiency Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg in the Queens Speech debate on Wednesday 18th May to break down the barriers to opportunity for small and medium sized businesses in public sector procurement and made the case for greater investment in the South-West.
This followed a summit in Dorchester on the 6th May with Mr Rees-Mogg (Pictured) in which Mr Loder utilised his expertise from a 20-year career in the railways to encourage the Government to make it easier for West Dorset small business to access more business from public sector procurement processes.
Mr Loder told KeeP 106: “97% of all businesses in West Dorset are small or micro-sized. We have a real opportunity here with the Procurements Bill to allow the many of these to tap into the pool of opportunities in public sector procurements that are available and as of yet, not accessible for the vast majority of businesses particularly in West Dorset”.
“It was good to learn from the Minister (during our Dorchester Summit) that the Procurement Bill will help those very small and micro sized businesses tap into the procurement system that for too long has been held back by bureaucracy or EU legislation. Such things as Closed Approved Suppliers Lists which I understand will be reviewed and this will mean a huge amount to rural constituencies such as West Dorset that have a large proportion of small and micro sized businesses.”
