Issue - meetings

The Council’s previous Procurement “Think Local” Strategy was very successful in terms of modernising the procurement approach within B&NES and delivery innovation as well as implementing the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

The Council needs to update its strategy to consider legislative changes following the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union (The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019)

The Government has published the Green Paper “Transforming Public Procurement” and will implement new regulations in early 2022. Tackling the climate emergency will form an important part of the new regulations and our proposed Strategy takes account of these requirements and will also align with the Council’s Corporate Strategy.

Councillor Richard Samuel introduced the report by saying that the Council has spent £200m each year in purchasing goods and services, and alongside the changes in procurement being introduced by the government it was appropriate to revise our policies with the strong imperative of carbon reduction. Councillor Samuel suggested that the Council would seek the assurance from its suppliers that they were doing everything to minimise carbon emissions along the supply chain. Some consequential changes to other Council policies would follow in due course.

Councillor Samuel also added that that full reports would be brought back on concrete successes in carbon reduction and sustainability through this policy. The first report would be brought before the Cabinet towards the end of 2022.

Councillor Richard Samuel moved the recommendations.

Councillor Sarah Warren seconded the motion by saying this Council has an excellent track record on sustainable procurement, having worked closely with award winning local company Fresh Range in the past to procure school meal ingredients locally, in a pilot which has been used as a national case study in the Parliamentary Inquiry into improving food procurement, and cited as best practice in the National Food Strategy.  The report has provided the framework for innovative practice across the whole range of Council procurement, stepping outside the bounds of business as usual, and stepping up Council’s response not only to the climate emergency, but also to tackle modern slavery, by using its influence throughout our supply chain.

Councillor Tim Ball also welcomed the report and thanked the officers who were involved in procurement process.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet agreed to:

1)  Adopt the B&NES Procurement & Commissioning Strategy – “Think Climate, Think Local, Think Innovation”,

2)  Delegate authority to the Director of Finance in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources to update the Strategy to reflect future changes to the national statutory framework.