To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the UK’s defence budget was spent with UK-based small businesses in each of the last five years for which information is available.
Answered on
28 January 2021
The Government publishes annual estimates of the level of spend that Departments, including the Ministry of Defence (MOD), have with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME).
The latest published figures for Financial Year 2018/19 can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2018-to-2019
The table below sets out proportion of the MOD’s procurement spend that went directly and indirectly to SMEs in each of the last five financial years (FY) for which information is available.
Year | Direct SME Spend % | Indirect SME spend % | Total SME spend % |
FY 18/19 | 3.8 | 15.5 | 19.3 |
FY 17/18 | 4.1 | 12.3 | 16.5 |
FY 16/17 | 3.7 | 9.4 | 13.1 |
FY 15/16 | 4.7 | 13.4 | 18.1 |
FY 14/15 | 4.2 | 15.2 | 19.4 |
Notes:
SME spend data is for all SMEs which meet the EU definition. The data released does not differentiate between UK and non-UK SMEs
The figures are for the core department only, therefore excluding its Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies.