Here is the text of Douglas Johnson’s letter to the Sheffield Star in response to the article “South Yorkshire councils worst for local business spending”
“Dear Editor,
Sheffield City Council may say it has a policy of “spending local” but a recent report shows that very little actually goes to small business.
The research shows the Council only spends 4.3% of its money on small businesses – typically 50 employees or less. This figure has fallen in the last 3 years, leaving Sheffield second from bottom of the local authorities listed.
Companies like Capita, Veolia, Kier and Amey, which have big contracts with Sheffield City Council, might employ a lot of people from the region but they also make large profits which go outside Sheffield. Amey is a huge company and made almost £100 million profit in 2013. Some of this money came from Sheffield. Wouldn’t it be better if this money was kept in our city instead?
Douglas Johnson
The report, “Spend Small” is available to download at www.spendsmall.org