Public procurement costs the UK some £290 billion each year. Of this, councils spend around £55 billion a year on goods, works and services. This huge spending power can be leveraged to boost growth and productivity, help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle climate change. With increasing demand for public services and reducing resources, the importance of effective commission has never been greater for local government.

Apart from the focus on finding greater efficiencies to improve productivity, councils are also seeking to deliver better outcomes for local people and meet their social value objectives by improving the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of an area. They must also meet their zero emissions targets and focus on greener procurement of goods and services.

The Government’s Transforming Public Procurement Green Paper seeks to speed up and simplify procurement processes, place value for money at their heart and unleash opportunities for small business, charities and social enterprises to innovate in public services delivery.

This event will address the key issues that are currently facing local authorities in their procurement strategies. It will give the latest updates from the government on its Green Paper and its review into the risk of fraud and corruption in local government procurement. Recent developments such as the National Procurement Policy Statement will also be addressed and analysed.

Practical examples of council procurement initiatives will be showcased covering key topics such as delivering social value, achieving net zero objectives and using a shared service model.