Weekly COVID-19 supply chain bulletin: 26 November 2021

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Weekly COVID-19 supply chain bulletin

26 November 2021

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Welcome to the merged National Advisory Group (NAG) and SOPO (Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government) e-bulletin. Feel free to forward this email to your colleagues and / or suggest they sign up to receive it themselves.
This e-bulletin is now delivered through our corporate service which handles all of our e-bulletins and through which you can create or manage your subscriptions and read previous editions of this e-bulletin


National procurement strategy benchmarking


The national and regional scores are now available and appear on your reports so you can compare your council against the national and regional benchmarks. We will be contacting your procurement leads next week with further information and to offer bespoke reporting and increased functionality enabling you to download findings into a spreadsheet that can be manipulated. We can also create individual online reports enabling respondents to see the dashboard version. Please contact rowena.ward@sps-consultancy.co.uk if you would like your council to receive this service. We will be encouraging the regional groups to discuss their findings, and any issues, at your regional procurement groups.


COVID-19 stories


Recovery Loan Scheme extended

Councils are being asked to promote the extension of the Recovery Loan Scheme to businesses in their local area. The scheme, which has been extended by the Chancellor of the Exchequer until 30 June 2022, supports access to finance for UK businesses as they recover from the disruption of the pandemic.

Care home staff movement guidance

Guidance for care home providers on restricting staff movement has been updated. The guidance acknowledges that movement remains a concern for transmission of infection between settings. It is advising care home providers to limit routine staff movement between care homes and other health and care settings.


Non-COVID stories


Central Buying Consortium celebrates 30 years of local authority collaboration

The LGA Procurement Team would like to warmly congratulate the Central Buying Consortium (CBC) on 30 years of collaboration and fantastic work. Originally formed to collectively purchase items for stores operations, the group has evolved with the expansion of the role of procurement in local government. It now fosters collaboration and shared learning between the 22 member authorities, covers 24 per cent of the population of England, and helps to influence the procurement approach across the local authority sector. There are ten working groups covering key spend categories and cross-cutting themes, for example: social value, climate action and contract management. Member authorities are county council or unitary authorities based in the south of England and the Midlands, bringing together over 300 procurement professionals to share knowledge and learning. If you would like to learn more about the consortium, please contact paul.white5@essex.gov.uk or visit https://www.hants.gov.uk/business/cbc

CIPS coding and classification – maximising returns from procurement data

The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) has updated and republished its coding and classification guidance. This guidance has proved very popular since it was first produced in 2002 and has been updated four times to reflect new developments. It provides:

  • good practice guidance to help organisations wishing to adopt or review their procurement coding and classification structures, including a differentiation between them
  • non-sector-specific advice to any organisation finding the quality and accessibility of its procurement data a barrier to making progress in achieving goals and targets
  • clear evidence that procurement coding and classification is a strategic issue for business management, even if implementation falls to others in operational areas
  • useful lists of contacts which can be used to gather the latest information as new developments are made.

Social homes required to have smoke alarms

Housing providers will be required by law to install smoke alarms in all social housing, and carbon monoxide alarms to be fitted in social and private rented properties with fixed appliances such as gas boilers or fires, the Housing Minister has announced. Property owners will be required to meet the cost of the new requirements.

Electric vehicle charge points

The Prime Minister has announced that new homes and buildings will be required to install electric vehicle charge points from next year. The new legislation will see up to 145,000 extra charge points installed across England each year in the run up to 2030. The LGA has responded to the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles' (OZEV's) 'Future of transport regulatory review: zero emission vehicles' consultation on whether there should be a statutory obligation to plan and deliver a charging infrastructure, including for councils.

National Transfer Scheme mandating

The Government has given all councils with children’s services legal notice to accept transfers of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children into their care as a result of large numbers of recent arrivals, including a high number of children placed in hotels. As under the current voluntary rota, the temporary mandating of the National Transfer Scheme will be based on weighing up a number of factors, including the existing child population, the number of supported asylum seekers, and pressures on children’s services.

Supporting adults with learning disabilities to have better lives framework

The 'Supporting adults with learning disabilities to have better lives' framework aims to help Directors of Adult Social Services (DASS) to work with colleagues and partners to improve support to adults with a learning disability and assure that local care and support delivers positive outcomes and is good value for money. Councils or regions can independently self-evaluate their support for adults with learning disabilities against the framework. The Care and Health Improvement Programme (CHIP) has developed a quick self-evaluation tool to assist councils in carrying out a self-assessment. This approach helps councils to reflect on current system service delivery before developing a transformation action plan. The framework is aimed at addressing services for adults with a learning disability and young people preparing for adulthood. This includes autistic people who also have a learning disability. It does not include autistic people without a learning disability, as they are likely to have different needs. Details of a January webinar on the framework can be found below.


Webinars


Social Value Portal webinar: 'The road from COP26' | Wednesday 1 December

Social Value Portal are continuing their series of webinars about the role of social value in tackling the climate crisis. The 'just transition' is about making sure that as we move to a net-zero carbon economy we don’t create more inequality – for instance, by making sure that new jobs and skills are created to replace the ones that are lost as we move away from carbon-intensive industries and processes. Register for this 90-minute webinar

Digitech21 technology and procurement summit for the public sector | Thursday 9 December

During this round table discussion, Crown Commercial Service wants to hear your news (good and bad) – to talk about the current challenges you face, how you feel about your role as public sector buyers in the future, and the direction of the procurement landscape. Good practice, issues and challenges being faced, networks being formed, and hot topics for the future, will inform the agenda and shape the ‘digital buying community of practice’ in the year ahead.

Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally (FFCL) Conference | Tuesday 14 December

Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally (FFCL) is the English strategy on countering fraud in local government. It was developed with the involvement of more than 200 councils and is supported by a range of partners including the LGA and Solace. The 2020 launch event had to be cancelled but the strategy will now be discussed at an in-person conference in London which will provide an opportunity to hear about good counter-fraud practice during the pandemic and to congratulate those who won FFCL Awards in 2020. To find out more about this event, and to book your place, please email the FFCL secretariat on FFCL@cifas.org.uk

'Supporting adults with learning disabilities to have better lives' framework webinar | Wednesday 26 January 2022

This free introductory webinar will tell you more about the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services' (ADASS) and LGA's 'Supporting adults with learning disabilities to have better lives' framework. The session is designed for council staff working with people with a learning disability, Directors of Adult Social Services (DASS), health staff, and others with an interest in services for people with a learning disability.


Resources


The LGA Procurement team manages several LGA webpages dedicated to your needs. Please email guy.head@local.gov.uk if you would like any information added to our webpages: