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Emma Jones - Small Business Crown Representative

As Small Business Crown Representative, Emma is keen to help UK SMEs win government business.

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As of January 2019, Emma Jones is no longer the Crown Representative for Small Business.

Emma was appointed as Small Business Crown Representative in July 2016. She was selected for the role because of her wealth of experience in working with SMEs. She is the founder of small business support group Enterprise Nation, and the co-founder of StartUp Britain.

Emma’s work in her role as Small Business Crown Representative includes:

  • Working with government and the Small Business Panel to identify the remaining barriers to SMEs doing business with the public sector

  • Supporting the launch and delivery of the campaign to help show that government is “Open for Business” for SMEs, and helping them bid for, and win, more contracts

  • Increasing awareness among smaller businesses of opportunities to deliver on behalf of larger private sector firms who have secured government contracts

  • Working with government to identify new opportunities to get best value from SMEs

Getting Support

Emma is keen to hear what small business have to say and wants to engage with as many SMEs as possible. So, if you’re thinking about becoming a government supplier, take a look at the events and opportunities below for how to get involved and gain support.

Webinars

Register for free for Emma’s half-hour webinars offering advice on how to become a government supplier. A list of webinars coming up is featured below.

Events

There are a wide range of events that SMEs can attend across the country to help them identify opportunities and network with other businesses for tips on supplying to government.

Past Events

  • Leeds Cross Government SME Roadshow - Nov 2017 with representatives from Central Government (Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Crown Commercial Service), NHS (Department of Health, NHS England, NHS Digital) and local government (Leeds City Council) about the opportunities to sell to the public sector. See the slides to that event.

Contracts Finder

Register with Contracts Finder to keep updated on new and upcoming contracts worth over £10,000 with the government and its agencies.

Public Procurement Review Service

If you have a concern you’d like to raise about the procurement process or a problem with payment on a public contract you can let us know via the Public Procurement Review Service, and we will investigate for you.

Blogs

Read Emma’s blogs to gain useful insight, updates and tips for SMEs and government buyers.

Selling to the public sector guide

In partner with the Crown Commercial Service, Emma has developed a guide for small businesses with tips on selling to government. Read it here.

Case Studies

For inspiration on how other small business have grown and benefitted from being a supplier government read our case studies.

Government is Open for Business

‘Open for Business’ is the government’s campaign to reach more SMEs as potential suppliers: to help and support them to become suppliers and to listen to how government can improve the process.

For more information visit www.gov.uk/openforbusiness

Support us

If you would like to help in getting the message out that government is Open for Business then visit the resources page for ways in which you can support.

Key contacts for SMEs

SME Champions

Government has an overall aspiration for one pound in three of procurement spend to be with SMEs by the end of this Parliament. Individual government departments have their own plans to help government overall to achieve this. Listed below are the key people in each department who drive the SME procurement as SME champions.

  • BEIS - Martin Hayter

  • CO - Helen Gibson

  • DCLG - Richard McKean

  • DCMS - Marc Bryant

  • Defra - Clare Marsden

  • DfE - Noel Williamson

  • DFID - Stephanie Donachie and Michael Ross

  • DfT - Pam Badhan

  • DH - Rachel Berrisford

  • DWP - Mike Day

  • FCO - Gary Mankelow

  • HMRC - Samantha Bloyce

  • HMT - John Burran

  • HO - Lucy Moody

  • MoD - John Kite

  • MoJ - Laura Cassidy

  • NDA - Ron Gorham

SME Panel

The SME advisory panel, made up of 24 entrepreneurs and leading business figures boasting a wide range of experience, is working with the government to ensure that by 2022, £1 of every £3 invested by Government in goods and services goes to small and medium-sized enterprises. The panel was formed in November 2016 and are currently looking at key strands of government procurement activity. More information can be found here.

Social Media

Keep up to date by following key accounts on twitter:

Published 11 January 2017
Last updated 28 January 2019 + show all updates
  1. Following the recent rebranding of the service, the page has been updated to include reference to the 'Public Procurement Review Service' rather than the 'Mystery Shopper Service'.

  2. New webinars uploaded

  3. 2 new webinar dates added

  4. Added new webinar date

  5. Added event for 27 June

  6. Added new webinar date

  7. More sections added to Get Involved

  8. New webinar added

  9. added new webinar

  10. Added events section

  11. Added new blog - The SME spend target must go on

  12. Added new webinar dates

  13. Added new webinar on 18 Jan

  14. new blog

  15. new event added

  16. New webinar added

  17. new webinar added

  18. New blog from Emma Jones

  19. Updated webinar list

  20. Webinar - 15 February removed as cancelled.

  21. new webinar date added

  22. First published.