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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.
Transforming Public Procurement programme – April 2022 update
The Government's Transforming Public Procurement programme aims to improve the way public procurement is regulated to save the taxpayer money and drive social, environmental and economic benefits across every region of the country. The new legislation is expected to come into effect around May 2023. The Government's Transforming Public Procurement webpage explains what the new procurement regime will mean and provides details about the learning and development programme that is supporting the regime – as well as updates on timescales and processes. This will be the key place to go for information about the Transforming Public Procurement programme, so please use the link and share it with colleagues.
Learning and development programme for public procurement
Plans for the learning and development programme that we are putting in place to support implementation of the new public procurement regime are firming up. The following products will be free at the point of delivery:
- short 'knowledge drops' for anyone who needs an awareness of the reform programme (including suppliers and senior leaders)
- a course of e-learning modules (plus certification) for procurement professionals in contracting authorities – the core product to provide knowledge and understanding of the new regime
- an intensive three-day course of 'deep dives' for a subset of those who have certificated from the e-learning
- support for communities of practice to help embed learning.
The learning and development team is currently focused on developing content for the e-learning modules and planning the written guidance and additional learning aids that will complement the formal training.
Adult social care organisations continue to benefit from apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are an excellent option for both apprentices and employers because they provide apprentices with skills and knowledge for a successful career and improve organisations' productivity. Whether you’re a small or large employer, you can access Government funding to cover training and assessment costs and prepare your workforce for a bright future within your business; and the benefits don’t stop there. You can access videos of employers speaking about the benefits of apprenticeships on the Government's apprenticeships website.
T Levels support offer for councils
We are currently in the process of developing our T Level Support Programme to councils to help them implement T Level industry placements in their workplaces. Offering a local government T Level industry placement to a young person can encourage them to actively contribute to and make an impact on local government, while also providing a diverse skill set and resource to councils.
To help us support you, we’re asking councils to take our short two-minute survey, which aims to find out:
- if councils are considering taking on T Level placements
- what further support they need to do so
- lessons learned so far.
Your contributions will be vital in helping us to understand and monitor the sector's needs.
Taking advantage of aggregations and eAuctions – Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Procurement Essentials
Crown Commercial Service’s latest monthly feature on procurement concepts, policies, regulations, and processes focuses on aggregation and eAuctions and enables you to find out the latest information on:
- aggregation and eAuctions
- how to take advantage of the public sector's national buying power
- how collective buying can help public sector buyers get the best deal on goods and services.
Aggregation really just means ‘collective buying’. It usually involves bringing together more than one organisation with similar needs to buy common goods and services from suppliers. It helps you achieve savings that would not be possible through individual buying. Aggregation usually works best when there is no urgent procurement need and timescales are flexible, as it can take some time to get enough customers together to maximise collective buying power.
Financing Green Ambitions – a green finance guide from the LGA and Local Partnerships
According to the National Audit Office's report on Local government and net zero in England, almost two thirds of councils in England are aiming to be carbon neutral 20 years before the national target and 91 per cent of councils have adopted at least one net zero commitment. Through our work with our member organisations the LGA is aware of significant pressures on delivery of these targets amongst councils. The most frequently reported barriers were the amount of funding, accessibility of funding, lack of workforce capacity, internal skills and expertise, conditions of funding, and reliability of funding. The LGA and Local Partnerships have produced a green finance guide – Financing Green Ambitions – to provide practical guidance and examples of good practice to support councils in England to find the most appropriate and affordable ways to finance their green ambitions.
LGA to host Climate Action Plan roundtables
The LGA is supporting councils in their development and implementation of their climate action plans by organising a series of roundtables. The roundtables will bring councils together to discuss and share learning through facilitated peer support. You can sign up to the support via our expression of interest form. For more information, please access our frequently asked questions or email climate@local.gov.uk with any queries.
Import controls on EU goods update
A reminder that the Government has announced that the remaining import controls on EU goods will no longer be introduced this year. Instead, traders will continue to move their goods from the European Union to Great Britain as they do now. The Government will review how to implement these remaining controls in an improved way. The new Target Operating Model will be based on a better assessment of risk and will utilise data and technology. The model will be published in the autumn and the new controls regime will come into force at the end of 2023. The controls introduced in January 2021 on the highest risk imports of animals, animal products, plants and plant products will continue to apply alongside the customs controls which have already been introduced.
Thursday 12 May, 2–3.30pm | Online
This LGA ADASS Care and Health Improvement Programme webinar will focus on how council and partners have been implementing the National Strategy for Autistic People, Children and Young People 2021 to 2026. Hear from Leeds University, Greater Manchester Autism Consortium and from the Department of Health and Social Care about how the strategy is being implemented.
New LGA Energy Procurement Category Strategy – stakeholder engagement workshop
Wednesday 18 May, 1.30–3pm | Online
ACE Research at the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) is working with the LGA to support updating our Energising Procurement Category Strategy. The team will be hosting an online workshop to discuss the content of the strategy. If you are interested in attending or would like to be involved in any of the stakeholder development process, please email steph.hacker@theade.co.uk
Wednesday 25 May, 9am–5.30pm | Birmingham National Exhibition Centre (NEC), North Avenue, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT
Connecting buyers and suppliers across the UK’s public sector, Procurex National 2022 will provide a wealth of CPD-certified skills development, networking and collaboration opportunities. The interactive product showcase exhibition provides organisations that are actively operating within official frameworks agreements or exploring ways’ to further develop opportunities across the £290 billion a year UK public procurement marketplace with a chance to showcase their products and services to leading buyers.
Wednesday 25 May, 9.30am–5.30pm | Clothworkers' Hall, Dunster Court, Mincing Lane, London EC3R 7AH
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.
Wednesday 1 June, 1–2pm | Online
Although innovation is widely seen to be vital for the public sector, a key question still stands: how can this innovation be encouraged? Transport for London's Innovation Hub offers a space which lies outside the organisation’s conventional ways of working. By inviting peers from across Transport for London to focus on a problem statement for periods of between 12 and 18 weeks, the Innovation Hub has offered solutions as to how TfL can capitalise on technological advancements to do things better, cheaper and quicker. This session will focus on an internationally recognised, novel way of working, illuminating the universe of potential for innovation that the public sector wields.
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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