The government's small firm procurement champion, the Glover Committee, has set out a series of guidelines aimed at giving SMEs a greater share of public sector procurement.

The recommendations include advertising all contracts worth more than £20,000 on an online portal, standardisation of the tendering process and requiring public authorities to report the number of contracts awarded to small businesses.

Responding to the report, John Brazier, managing director of trade body the Professional Contractors Group, said: "These proposals are an important step in ensuring the public procurement market is operated on a level playing-field, with work being easy to access and apply for."