Transparency data

Central government direct and indirect spend with SMEs 2021 to 2022 (HTML)

Published 15 August 2023

Central Government Direct and Indirect Spend with Small and Medium sized Enterprises 2021/22

The government wants small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs[footnote 1]) to benefit from central government procurement spend, either directly or indirectly via the supply chain.

Reports on this aspiration are represented as the sum of two figures: direct spend and indirect spend, as the figures are calculated using different methodologies. Their addition provides the figure against which the overall aspiration is measured.

Methodology:

These figures on SME spend are management information published in the interests of transparency. The data sources for direct and indirect spend are described in more detail below. Given the differences in methodology between direct and indirect spend and changes in methodology between years, caution should be exercised when making comparisons over time.

Methodology: Direct Spend

To calculate direct spend, we use Dun and Bradstreet, a leading provider of business information, to classify all government suppliers as either SMEs or non-SMEs in line with the EC definition. We then use departments鈥� accounting systems to calculate how much money has been directly spent with those SMEs. Departments are asked to include the core department and its Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs). Returns are reviewed and signed off by Commercial Directors.

Methodology: Indirect Spend

Indirect spend with SMEs via the supply chain was collected through a survey issued by departments to their suppliers. For each department, we calculated the percentage of their procurement spend with large suppliers which had been captured by supplier responses. For those departments with over 70% of spend captured (i.e. with high levels of confidence in the supply-chain data) an extrapolation has been applied over the remaining spend to obtain a more complete picture. This calculation can be found in the .csv file Annex.

Breakdown of departmental SME spend data (拢m) 2021/22

The table below shows the departmental breakdown of spend with small and medium sized businesses for financial year 2021/22 against financial year 2020/21 figures.

Financial Year 2020/21

Department Total Procurement Spend (拢m) Direct Spend with SMEs (拢m) Direct Spend with SMEs as % Indirect Spend with SMEs (拢m) Indirect Spend with SMEs as % Total Spend with SMEs as %
BEIS 拢3,153 拢486 15.4% 拢78 2.5% 17.9%
CO 拢1,093 拢184 16.9% 拢52 4.8% 21.6%
DCMS 拢614 拢276 45.0% 拢23 3.7% 48.7%
DEFRA 拢1,714 拢254 14.8% 拢108 6.3% 21.1%
DFE 拢769 拢223 29.0% 拢56 7.3% 36.2%
DFT 拢15,193 拢1,876 12.3% 拢3,299 21.7% 34.1%
DHSC 拢13,375 拢3,114 23.3% 拢250 1.9% 25.1%
DIT 拢167 拢53 31.9% 拢6 3.7% 35.6%
DLUHC 拢234 拢46 19.9% 拢32 13.6% 33.5%
DWP 拢2,177 拢184 8.4% 拢194 8.9% 17.3%
FCDO 拢1,486 拢292 19.7% 拢237 16.0% 35.7%
HMRC 拢2,145 拢184 8.6% 拢260 12.1% 20.7%
HMT 拢105 拢11 10.8% 拢6 6.2% 17.0%
HO 拢2,988 拢622 20.8% 拢326 10.9% 31.7%
MOD 拢19,501 拢949 4.9% 拢3,539 18.1% 23.0%
MOJ 拢5,279 拢1,224 23.2% 拢355 6.7% 29.9%
NDA 拢1,641 拢206 12.6% 拢263 16.0% 28.6%
Total 拢71,633 拢10,186 14.2% 拢9,083 12.7% 26.9%

Financial Year 2021/22

Department Total Procurement Spend (拢m) Direct Spend with SMEs (拢m) Direct Spend with SMEs as % Indirect Spend with SMEs (拢m) Indirect Spend with SMEs as % Total Spend with SMEs as %
BEIS 拢4,749 拢501 10.6% 拢131 2.8% 13.3%
CO 拢680 拢179 26.3% 拢70 10.3% 36.6%
DCMS 拢685 拢283 41.3% 拢29 4.2% 45.4%
DEFRA 拢1,705 拢351 20.6% 拢44 2.6% 23.2%
DFE 拢606 拢177 29.2% 拢38 6.3% 35.5%
DFT 拢17,525 拢1,515 8.6% 拢4,316 24.6% 33.3%
DHSC 拢11,548 拢1,636 14.2% 拢342 3.0% 17.1%
DIT 拢162 拢51 31.3% 拢14 8.6% 39.9%
DLUHC 拢227 拢60 26.6% 拢31 13.7% 40.3%
DWP 拢2,789 拢203 7.3% 拢291 10.4% 17.7%
FCDO 拢1,362 拢203 14.9% 拢314 23.0% 38.0%
HMRC 拢2,541 拢116 4.6% 拢208 8.2% 12.7%
HMT 拢91 拢17 18.5% 拢3 3.3% 21.8%
HO 拢4,366 拢1,327 30.4% 拢380 8.7% 39.1%
MOD [footnote 2] 拢22,444 拢1,522 6.8% 拢4,193 18.7% 25.5%
MOJ 拢5,744 拢1,375 23.9% 拢376 6.5% 30.5%
NDA 拢1,930 拢257 13.3% 拢404 21.0% 34.3%
Total 拢79,154 拢9,774 12.3% 拢11,185 14.1% 26.5%
  1. We use the 听鈫�

  2. MOD total procurement and direct spend figures are for the core department, DSTL (Executive Agency) and AWE (Non-Departmental Public Body) only. All other Executive Agencies and NDPBs are excluded.听鈫�