Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude highlighted the link between procurement reform and encouraging growth at a Cabinet Office event this week.

Speaking to an audience of 800 potential and current government suppliers, Maude said that the way government has done business in the past has “militated against UK interests and it’s militated against growth and jobs in this country.”

He argued that the UK has held businesses at arm’s length while other European countries have worked closely with domestic suppliers “so they are geared up to win contracts at home and abroad.”

In Britain, he said “we take an almost deliberately short-sighted approach to working with business," he said. The result of that has been a bias against British based firms.”

Maude added that closer working with British firms would help government to secure better value from suppliers: “Because we have made it really difficult and expensive for smaller British suppliers even to bid for business, we’ve excluded some of the most innovative and competitive suppliers from doing business with us and for us."

Maude said that "a Government that hunts for the best deals for the taxpayer is good for business" because it will work with "all kinds of business and all kinds of business models and build long-term strategic relationships with suppliers. Efficiency and growth will march hand in hand."

To watch videos from the event and view the full text of Maude’s speech click here.

You can download presentations from the event here.

Last updated 182 days ago by Civil Service World