Tag: Cabinet Office

SMEs collected £21 billion of government contracts

Posted on August 17, 2023 by - News

Canalys Forum EuropeUK SMEs received £21 billion of government contracts in the fiscal year 2021/22, translating to an average of approximately £3,800 for every British small business.

New Cabinet Office figures revealed UK small businesses acquired £21 billion worth of government work during the fiscal year 2021/22 – which can be seen as a testament to the government’s commitment to supporting and empowering SMEs.

The sum is an  increase of £1.7 billion from the previous year, marking the sixth consecutive year that small businesses have seen an upsurge in government contracts.

Cabinet Office Minister, Jeremy Quin claimed the figures showed the government’s dedication to fostering an inclusive market that supports SME participation. He noted the impact of lowering entry barriers, ensuring more small companies partake in public sector spending, thus generating wider economic benefits.

Government spends half its IT budget on outdated systems

Posted on August 6, 2021 by - News

A Cabinet Office report called Organising for Digital Delivery has found that the government spends half of its £4.7 billion IT budget patching out of date systems.

The report said that the UK government spends £2.3 billion a year on patching legacy IT systems, making up half of the £4.7bn it spends on IT each year.

The UK government could spend £13- £22 billion over the next five years on maintaining its outdated IT systems.

The so-called “technical debt” racked up by the government stems from its use of “obsolete technical platforms” using programming languages that are no longer widely supported.

Some IT systems fail to meet “even the minimum of cybersecurity standards”.

SMEs want investigation into Capita

Posted on February 11, 2015 by - News

parliamentA report said 12 small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are asking the government to investigate IT giant Capita for allegedly damaging their business.

According to the Independent, the Cabinet Office has started an investigation into Capita after the group of SMEs alleged that it was exploiting their suppliers over a civil service training scheme.

Capita secured a £250 million deal three years ago to provide civil service training in a move that was intended to open the public sector to SMEs.

But the SMEs have made a number of allegations including paying invoices late, taking big fees for training contracts, and hiring sub contractors to work directly for Capita rather than farming the work out to the small businesses.

Capita is also alleged to have introduced non competing clauses for SMEs involved in business which precluded them getting work without its permission.

The Cabinet Office said it was taking the allegations seriously. It said government policy is to support SMEs. Capita said it had changed its policies on late payment and it had abandoned its policy of non compete clauses.