The Department of trade and Industry has reported that there are more than 7,000 contracts up for grabs on its www.supply2.gov.uk business portal.

It says that more than 12,000 suppliers have also registered on the site, which gives businesses the opportunity to access lower-value public sector contracts from central and local government.

The site is free for public sector organisations to advertise their contracts on and contract information in a business’ chosen location will be available free of charge.