12/02/2012 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire


12/02/2012

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And here in the North - Ed to Ed with Miliband - we know what his

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critics in Yorkshire say, but Labour's top man comes out fighting

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1696 seconds

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Hello, good afternoon. You're watching the Sunday Politics for

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Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Today I go head to head with Ed. Ed

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Miliband, that is, as the Labour leader hits back at his critics in

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Yorkshire. Plus we'll find out why businesses in Lincolnshire are

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frustrated at what they claim is the mountain of red tape preventing

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them from bidding for government contracts. Our best today are the

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Conservative MP and the Labour MP for Sheffield Central. Many

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commentators say it you scored recent victory on bankers bonuses.

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Do you accept that? The battle is far from over. If you look at the

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opinion polls, when the public are asked who they trust on the economy,

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it is time and again the Prime Minister and Chancellor way ahead

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of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. saw Ed Miliband's speech in

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Sheffield. How would you sum up how his relaunch is going? He has

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caught the pulse of the nation. David Cameron is playing catch-up.

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He was the first to talk about capitalism. No more rewards for

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failure. That was one of the big themes of a keynote speech by Ed

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Miliband in Sheffield this week. I caught up with the Labour leader

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and Doncaster MP, after his latest bout of banker bashing. On a cold,

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wintry night in South Yorkshire, the speech on the fickle history of

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the British economy may not sound like a crowd puller, but around

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1000 people came to the inaugural lecture of this research institute

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at the University of Sheffield, where the guest speaker told me

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that unlike some previous Labour leaders, he was not relaxed about

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people getting filthy rich. I'm not relaxed about it because it can't

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be about rewards for failure. That is what we have seen in too much of

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our banking industry. Wise is important that we have banks that

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serve the rest of the economy but the small businesses rely on the

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bank, the savers rely on the bank, and when we see these enormous

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bonuses being paid out, we know it is wrong and it has got to change.

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It does been a difficult few weeks they Ed Miliband with critics

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accusing him of flip propping over his support for austerity measures

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and union anger over his support for a public-sector pay freeze.

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pay, if it is a choice between jobs and big pay rises in the public

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sector, it is a tough decision. We should protect the low-paid workers,

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make sure the higher-paid workers do not get a pay rise, but keep the

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jobs in the public sector. When unions talk about disability and

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themselves from the Labour Party, that would be disastrous for you,

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for funding for the party and the person they. I don't think that

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will happen. People always say things in the heat of the moment.

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What is important for me is there to take the right long-term

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decisions for the Labour party and country. Voters in Ed Miliband's

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constituency will decide in May whether they want to keep the

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system of elected mayor running the town. People in four at the

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Yorkshire cities will also have the chance to say whether they want an

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elected mayor. Many in the Labour Party dislike the idea. What is his

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view? I think the mayoral system is the right system. Many of them want

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it ditched? Sure, but my preference is for the mayoral system. In the

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end, it is right that local people make their range was. The audience

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members of Sheffield came from a variety of backgrounds. So, where

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they inspired by the Labour leader? He was definitely very interesting.

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He seemed to know what he was talking about. He did not pandered

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to the media's interest. He has got a quiet appeal, he grows over the

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course of the speech. He is not singing and dancing like a -- like

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President Obama! Do you think you appeal to people in Yorkshire?

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think I do. I take my job very seriously. Listen to the issues,

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listen to what really matters. If you want a party that will put you

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on an employer -- young people back to work, that is Labour. It will

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depend on an improved performance over the coming months. Critical

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ever bank is bonuses, George Osborne continuing to question

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whether this kind of thing was that danger of promoting an anti-

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business culture. Is he on to something? We have got to get the

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bank has bonuses issued in to spare -- perspective. They have been

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horrendous cases of far too much money being paid in bonuses. But

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that was going on for the last government which he was a member of,

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and he did nothing about that, Sowton lecture about that now it is

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a bit rich. -- so to lecture about that. We want people to come to

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Britain to invest, we want... We have got a great financial sector

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in this County, and we need to protect that. At the same time, we

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need to make sure we don't excessive bonuses. Ed Miliband is a

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former minister in the last Labour government, when he talks about the

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whole financial system going wrong, surely he is largely responsible?

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Not at all. He is not responsible for the collapse of Lehmann

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Brothers in the States and the sub prime lending in America which led

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to the global financial crisis. What we did back in 2008 was to

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lead the world in a set of policies which was taking economies out of

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recession. When they consider -- Conservatives came to power, the

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economy was growing. They lead us towards a range of economic

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policies which have now put the economy into a tailspin. We are

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shrinking, and jobs are being lost at the expense of a policy. He says

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he is better connecting with ordinary people now. Do you think

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he is? Absolutely. Listen to those who were leaving the lecture on

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Thursday night. Listen to those who tried to get a ticket but couldn't

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get in. They turned 1000 people away. He has got his finger on the

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pulse of the nation. People are deeply concerned about bonuses, not

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because there anti-business, but because they are sick of people

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ripping off business. The not my local pub, he is not connected with

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people. They do not see him as the future Prime Minister and that is

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the problem he has got. Some of the people who were leaving the hall

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there were saying, yes, nice man, spoke quietly and passionately, I

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have heard that before some wet. We had a similar problem with aided --

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who did not connect with public, you saw what happened there. Iain

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Duncan-Smith. People want but leader. -- people want a leader. In

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that government, he was not prepared to make the decisions.

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David Cameron and the rest of the government car. Time now to catch

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up on the political news in our part of the world. Len Tingle has

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our round-up in 60 seconds. punches pulled by John Prescott

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when it comes to political surprises this week. Now Lord

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Prescott says he wants to add another title, commissioner of the

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Humberside Police Falls. He wants to stand for nomination as Labour's

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candidate in November's elections. I have got more experience than any

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other candidate. The recently retired South Yorkshire constable

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said he wants to leave. And as the Sheffield City Council announces

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hundreds of more job losses, it says it will start a lottery. This

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film is shortlisted for today's Bath did awards. But spending cuts

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threaten the agency's future but it has been given millions of EU money.

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550 jobs are being lost at Sheffield City Council, a Labour so

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-- Labour-run council, how can you justify that? The capital in

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Sheffield has been forced to take out there to be sent off funding

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over a period of four years. If you look at wealthier parts of the

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country, they are not facing any cuts at all. Are we going to see

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more job losses, and is this the price we pay for austerity? We are

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incredibly difficult times. We have got to get out deficit under

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control. We will use a credit rating and people's mortgages go up,

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that is the last thing we want. What do you think about John

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Prescott in a minute, but let's hear what Ed Miliband had to say.

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He would be a great police commissioner. John Prescott is a

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very unstoppable force, and I'm sure he would be a great police

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commissioner. Was that a ringing endorsement, do you think? I think

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Ed Miliband was saying what we all feel, we have got to get good

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candidates up to those posts. We would rather the post were not

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there in the first place, another example of the Tory government

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wasting money on bureaucratic the organisations. If it was spent on

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frontline policing, people would be a lot happier. John Prescott is --

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is a good example of a strong character to do this? Surely he has

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got enough on his plate, but people are looking forward to the fight!

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It sounds like battle has already commenced. Now, government

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bureaucrats are accused of all sorts these days. But their failure

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to award more contracts to small businesses comes in for stinging

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criticism in our next report. In fact, one expert says small

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businesses are actively discriminated against. Sharon

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Edwards explains. It is small and unassuming, but the village of

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ripping Gail in South Lincolnshire House some big ideas. Less than

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1000 people live here, yet it is home to around 30 businesses, many

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of them like this one run from home. For the past 10 years, Dr Peter

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Mosley has designed environmental technology, but despite success in

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the private sector, he is yet to win a single government contract in

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England. The problem, he says, is red tape. There are government

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departments which are requiring specific information with regards

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to sustainability policies, health and safety, insurance, liability

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and that kind of thing. The information we are required to give

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full some other tenders is distinctly tailored at larger

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businesses that have departments that can focus on purely tendering.

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I never know if I'll be successful and the likelihood is that there

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are some hidden criteria which might exclude me from the process.

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And he is not alone. Steed employs 300 people at the Lincolnshire

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building firm he created 24 years ago. He won this contracted -- to

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convert the church into a hotel, but recently the start of a public

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contract, so be because of the way he had worded a bid. We used the

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word working towards, and we did not say, we will do. It was not as

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positive as we should have done. And you could have won that

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contract if it had not been for that? Yes, we could have been on

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the tender list. Public-sector contracts are worth �230 billion a

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year. The government says it wants a quarter of them to go to smaller

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and medium-sized businesses, but at the moment is this the only around

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six %. -- it is only around six %. It was set at a limit before or

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�5,000, now that has been doubled to �10,000. We are making sure that

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we pay local suppliers on time now, within 28 days. Colin is a

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consultant, advising companies on how to judge -- advising companies

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on how to apply for contract. Guinea to remove the discrimination.

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A year ago this week, the Prime Minister promised to help small

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businesses when public contracts, but many say they are still waiting.

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-- win. Dr Peter Mosley is here. Peter, what more could a government

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be doing to make sure small governor -- businesses win more

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public sector contracts? Levelling the playing field, so it is open

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and transparent and so that it is there for small businesses to

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compete for everything that is available for the public sector. A

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minimum bid of 10,000, but quite often use the contracts they don't

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start to a 2025 come up, a whole gap could benefit small businesses

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from �1,000 upwards that doesn't seem to be handled in an open way.

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David Cameron, this time last year, promised that more small businesses

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but secured government contracts, why has that not happen to a large

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extent? It has taken time. This has been going on for a long time. I

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have heard members of parliament from all parties say that this is

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ridiculous. There are things happening, like the website, taking

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out qualification forms for a lot of small businesses, but we to go

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further. I'm glad that the government are taking this up in

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Europe, because there are also it European directive that we have to

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adhere to. The more that can be done so that it is a level playing-

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field, the better. I know that myself and many of my colleagues

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are doing the same in raising it as an issue with the government.

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a difficult dilemma for the government and all public sector

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bodies because they want to offer value for money to the taxpayer,

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but actually, value for money for the taxpayer often comes with

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large-scale -- procurement contracts. How do we get around

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this problem? Local government in many cases is sorting out the

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issues. About an estimated 20 billion goes to small businesses of

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the procurement. It is about being flexible and nimble, helping small

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businesses to access systems. On Friday, I chaired a seminar of

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local small businesses, are looking at how it would be easier for them

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to take on apprenticeships. There are ways of doing that and we have

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to listen to what they're saying. Is part of the problem that bigger

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companies, there is no way you can compete? For sure. A large

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proportion of my time when it comes to tendering is spent in the

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evenings trying to fill in forms, fill in the boxes, produce the

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documentation that a large business will have an entire team of people

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doing. I haven't got a whole team of people. That immediately puts me

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on the back for it. Do have a lot of sympathy for somebody like

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Peter? Absolutely. The people who were going to get us out of the

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economic difficulties other smaller businesses. We need to do

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everything we can. I don't think the government are dithering, that

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is harsh, there are initiatives that they have already introduced.

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They're taking it to Europe to simplify of the legislation is. We

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are on the road but we to go further and faster. Does the EU

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have a lot to answer for here? it is a typical Tory response, if

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they're in trouble, blame Europe. There are procurement rules in

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Europe but there are clearly procurement rules in this country

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as well. We need to make his contract accessible to sport and

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prices, and it can be done. Are you optimistic this can be sorted out?

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Not really. It is all very well and good to sit and bicker about who is

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doing what, this is a win-win for both of you. Make it simple, make

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it open, make it transparent and fair for everybody. If you come

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back next year, let's hope things will have improved. Thank you for

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your time today. That's about it from us. You can keep up to date

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