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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.
Adult social care reform
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published updated operational guidance on implementing the cap on care costs, alongside the Government response to the consultation on the draft guidance. The guidance seeks to support councils in their preparations for implementing the reforms from October 2023. The changes will include:
- an £86,000 cap on personal care costs
- a more generous means test
- raising the upper capital limit from £23,350 to £100,000 and raising the lower capital limit from £14,250 to £20,000.
Overseas recruitment in social care
We have launched a bite-size guide to overseas recruitment for social care providers in England. The guide sets out the benefits and walks employers through the resources needed, legal requirements, cost, how long it takes and how to ensure successful recruitment. It also draws on real life examples from providers. While this is written for providers in England, it may be relevant to other parts of the UK.
Responding to the climate emergency
Our senior officer leadership training on 'Responding to the climate emergency' is designed to support senior council officers from across all services to learn from best practice and explore how they can strengthen their local leadership role in responding to the climate emergency. As part of the training, participants will each commit to two carbon-reducing actions in their service areas, which will be evaluated by the Carbon Literacy Project. Participants who successfully complete the course will be certified as ‘carbon-literate,’ enabling them to train others in carbon literacy in their area of work. The cost of attending this programme is fully subsidised, including course materials and tuition. The training will take place on Zoom. For further information, please look at our frequently asked questions.
Various training dates are available from September to December. To sign up, please complete our expression of interest form, which includes further information on the available training dates. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us at climate@local.gov.uk
Carbon reduction survey
As part of our commitment to carbon reduction within the built environment, YORhub is undertaking a piece of research – in conjunction with Leeds Beckett University – looking at developing key performance indicators to influence contractor carbon reduction behaviour. We encourage anyone within a construction contracting organisation who is involved in carbon reduction during construction projects to complete the short survey. Please do share the link with anyone who fits this profile.
New LGA procurement events webpage
Our new LGA procurement events webpage lists all LGA procurement events, including our summer series of free webinars (Monday 18–Thursday 21 July). Two events in our summer series will launch our new set of e-learning modules and other online tools aimed at increasing cyber security and cyber resilience in local government supply chains, and other events will cover the key areas of energy and social value.
Embedding cyber resilience into local government supply chains – an introduction for procurement officers and commercial teams
Monday 18 July, 2.00pm–3.30pm | Microsoft Teams
Economic Growth roundtable – How can councils further develop digital skills in their local communities?
Tuesday 19 July, 10.00am–12.00pm | Online
Introducing power purchase agreements (PPAs) for sustainable, domestically generated energy
Tuesday 19 July, 2.00pm–3.30pm | Microsoft Teams
Introducing and implementing social value – a councillor’s guide
Wednesday 20 July, 2.00pm–4.00pm | Microsoft Teams
Embedding cyber resilience into local government supply chains – an introduction for IT and cyber security officers
Thursday 21 July, 2.00pm–3.30pm | Microsoft Teams
Sustainable procurement webinar
Tuesday 13 September, 10.00am–11.30am | Zoom
Making construction procurements successful within public sector constraints (CIPFA Zoom webinar)
Tuesday 12 July, 9.30am–3.45pm | Online
Essex County Council’s Social Value Fest 2022
Monday 18–Thursday 21 July | Online
Procurement to partnership – your questions answered (E3M webinar)
Thursday 28 July, 2.00pm–3.00pm | Online (Zoom)
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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