PM marks £1 billion investment boost for UK SMEs
27 May 2014 03:23 PM
Balfour Beatty has announced a record
spend of £1 billion this year on contracts with SMEs across the country.
The
Prime Minister has visited a construction site in London to mark a £1
billion investment boost for the UK’s small and medium businesses (SMEs)
by Balfour Beatty.
Balfour
Beatty say that this investment - the largest ever spend by a UK
construction contractor - is expected to support around 50,000 extra jobs in
comparison to their 2013 spend with smaller businesses, bringing the total
number of SME jobs in the supply chain to 200,000.
Britain’s infrastructure projects are helping
create jobs and growth. See how we are
#BuildingBritain.
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
Giving businesses the confidence to invest and create
jobs is a key part of our long term economic plan.
Balfour Beatty’s commitment to spend a record
£1 billion on small and medium sized businesses this year is very welcome
evidence that this plan is working – supporting thousands of extra jobs
in the sector which will give hard-working people economic security for the
future.
During the visit, the Prime Minister met
with:
- site workers and apprentices who are building innovative
new student accommodation, as well as small business incubator space in the
heart of London
- some of the SMEs in the supply chain who are
beneficiaries of the increased investment
Nurturing strong supply chains
Matthew Fell, CBI Director for Competitive Markets,
said:
Small, medium and large businesses work closely together
day-in-day-out across the UK economy to create jobs and drive growth. And
Balfour Beatty’s record investment is an excellent example of the
importance to big companies of nurturing and supporting strong supply chains
within their industries.
Business optimism is increasing
The
CBI has also put out a report today saying that business optimism in the
service sector is at the highest level since 1998 – with firms
set to create even more jobs.
More good news is expected tomorrow (28 May) when
the Manufacturing Advisory
Service publishes its latest data on confidence levels and recruitment
plans across England’s small manufacturers.
The
figures will show that record numbers of English manufacturing SMEsare
taking on new staff (54%) and looking to invest, while 73% expect to win more
work between now and October.
Construction - key facts
Construction contributes £90 billion to the
UK economy.
Around 10% of all UK jobs (2.9 million) are
construction-related and the sector accounts for 6.7% of the UK
economy.
The
global construction market is set to grow by 70% by 2025.
Read the government’s
construction industrial strategy.