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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 circulate this email to your colleagues and suggest that they sign up to receive it themselves. This bulletin is delivered through our corporate communications service through which you can create or manage your subscriptions and read previous editions of this bulletin.
Levelling Up Fund second round
Following the launch of the second round of the Levelling Up Fund at Spring Statement the government has published a refreshed technical note and application guidance. These documents will support the previously published prospectus and will provide applicants with further information on areas such as eligibility, the assessment process and the role of MPs in the second round of the Fund.
The £4.8 billion fund continues to invest in infrastructure, including town centres and high streets, local transport, and cultural and heritage assets. The fund delivers local priorities for communities across all nations and regions of the UK and the second round will look to build on round one, which saw £1.7 billion awarded to 105 projects across the UK.
The applications process is open between 31 May and 6 July.
Competition and Markets Authority – free e-learning module on how to spot bid-rigging
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has created this e-learning module to help procurement professionals root out illegal attempts to win contracts through anti-competitive conduct.
The free module, which is intended to take approximately 30 minutes to complete, will help procurers to gain an awareness of why bid rigging is harmful, know what kinds of activities and patterns of behaviour they should watch out for, what they can do to mitigate risks and how best to report suspect activity.
They have also launched their Cheating or Competing campaign which has case studies, quick guides and short explainer films that explain what anti-competitive activity looks like in practice and how best to report concerns to the CMA.
CMA staff are available to talk to public sector procurement teams about how to reduce the risks of bid-rigging, drawing out lessons learnt from cases and the typical 'red flags' to watch out for. To arrange a CMA presentation for your procurement team, contact: CMA_ProcurementSupport@cma.gov.uk
Local authority transport decarbonisation toolkit
Last week, the Department for Transport (DfT) launched a toolkit to support local authorities in delivering sustainable transport measures. The toolkit includes guidance on planning and delivering measures to reduce carbon emissions from transport by highlighting the benefits of different interventions, setting out the key actions councils can take, sharing best practice and lessons learnt from case studies of successful schemes and signposting to other published guidance and methodologies. The toolkit contains content on lift sharing, car clubs, zero emission buses, active travel, zero emission fleets, demand responsive transport, freight and deliveries and transport in rural areas. The suite includes:
DfT will be hosting a webinar on the Toolkit, along with the Energy Saving Trust who helped develop the content, at 11am on 24 May. There will also be a chance to sign-up for breakout sessions on the specific measures during the registration process. If you would like to provide feedback on the toolkit, please email latoolkit@est.org.uk.
International advisory on Russian cyber threat
This week the UK has joined international partners to share updated mitigation advice against Russian state-sponsored and criminal cyber threats. This advisory complements the recent National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) advice on actions to take when the cyber threat is heightened. Organisations are being advised to take the following immediate actions to protect their networks – please share and discuss this guidance with your IT and cyber security teams:
- prioritise patching of known exploited vulnerabilities
- enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- monitor remote desktop protocol (RDP)
- provide all staff awareness and training.
COVID-19 testing in adult social care
The UK Health and Security Agency has updated its guidance on COVID-19 testing in adult social care which outlines the COVID-19 testing available for staff, residents and visitors in adult social care.
Help and support if your business is affected by COVID-19
HMRC has updated the guidance about the support available for businesses affected by COVID-19, to include details for upcoming webinars on declaring your grants on your Company Tax Return (CT600). The webinars will cover:
- how to report COVID-19 support payments and grants on Company Tax Returns
- what happens if businesses have claimed too much
- records businesses need to keep.
Businesses can also use HMRC’s digital assistant to find more information about the COVID-19 support schemes.
Wednesday 27–Thursday 28 April, 9am–5pm | Online, and at Church House, 31 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BN
The fifth annual National Social Value Conference will bring together social value experts and practitioners from a variety of sectors and industries across the UK. This year’s event marks the 10-year anniversary of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. And as we dive into ‘the social value decade’, you’ll hear from experts in the public, private and third sectors on the successes so far – and the challenges that lie ahead.
Thursday 28 April, 9.30am–1.30pm | Online
This conference will feature a mix of keynote, breakout and led discussion sessions. The four key sessions with speakers and facilitators will cover:
- developing communities of practice
- 'the rocky road to accreditation'
- breakout workshops
- contract resilience.
Thursday 28 April, 10am–11.30am | Online
The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tool has proven popular with local authorities for their emissions reporting since its launch in 2020. With feedback from users, it has undergone further development ahead of the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) conversion factors being released in June 2022. This webinar will discuss the improvements and changes to the tool, as well as providing guidance on Scope 3 emissions reporting.
Wednesday 25 May, 9.30am–5.30pm | Central London location (venue to be confirmed)
Set against the context of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented economic and social challenges faced by communities across the country, this seminar will explore how public bodies can harness the full potential of social enterprises as purpose-aligned partners to the public sector.
Through cases studies, expert commentary and interactive discussions, participants will explore how social enterprises can bring intrinsic social value, agility and innovation – and how they can work with public sector commissioners in relational partnerships, at scale, to meet the needs of people and communities.
Thursday 23–Friday 24 June | The Hayes Conference Centre, Hayes Lane, Swanwick, Alfreton, Derbyshire DE55 1AU
Organised by commissioners for commissioners, the Children's Commissioning Conference is the event to share best practice from across commissioning. This event will include over 30 workshops focused on informing and improving commissioning offering the opportunity to learn from commissioning colleagues and children’s services experts.
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:
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