Simon is a former Senior Civil Servant, with nearly 40 years’ of service. He specialised in procurement, and was appointed a Small Business Champion after the 2010 election. He led procurement in the Department for Transport, increasing that department’s procurement spend with small businesses from around 4% to 34%. He helped to develop the public procurement sections of the Small Business Enterprise and Employment Act.
Since leaving the civil service, Simon set up as a sole trader, providing consultancy advice on public procurement and governance. He was also commissioned by the Cabinet Office to review the government’s approach to procurement with small businesses. He is Head of Central Government for DragonGate Market Intelligence, an SME providing strategic advice to both public and private sector clients. He also co-founded Breaking Barriers Innovations, another SME, specialising in delivering place-based solutions to public service challenges.