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Tackling modern slavery in government supply chains (PPN 02/23)
The Cabinet Office has published guidance on its latest procurement policy note – PPN 02/23 Tackling modern slavery in government supply chains – outlining how Government departments and public sector organisations must take action to ensure modern slavery risks are identified and managed in supply chains.
Although councils don’t fall into scope of this PPN, the guidance is still relevant and we encourage councils to apply this approach to mitigate the risk of modern slavery in our supply chains. The guidance sets out four key areas of activity:
- identifying and managing risks in new procurements
- assessing existing contracts
- taking action when victims of modern slavery are identified
- training.
Organisations should note that the table used for assessing the risk of modern slavery has been updated to include current global modern slavery risks in key sectors of concern such as cotton, personal protective equipment (PPE) and polysilicon. Organisations should also note that there is a new requirement for supply chain information to be provided at the selection stage of new procurements that are designated as being at a high risk of modern slavery.
Last call for our in-person National Construction Conference in Leeds on Tuesday 7 March
After three years of online conferences, we are back in person to promote networking about construction in the local government sector. Join us for sessions on delivering decarbonisation, the Construction Playbook, supply chain resilience, and managing the rising costs of inflation in the industry.
Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tools
The Greenhouse Gas Accounting Tool has been developed by Local Partnerships, working with the LGA, to provide a straightforward and consistent approach for councils seeking to calculate their own carbon baseline. Featured alongside the tool is a Waste Emissions Calculator that has been developed by Cambridgeshire County Council and University College London as part of the LGA / UCL Net Zero Innovation Programme. If you have any questions or suggestions for improvement, please email ghgaccounting@localpartnerships.gov.uk
Net Zero Go – upgraded procurement framework and dynamic purchasing systems (DPS) finder tool
When developing your procurement strategy, it is worth considering whether there is an appropriate existing framework or dynamic purchasing systems (DPS) which can meet your needs. If there is not a suitable framework or DPS available, it may then be worth considering an alternative procurement route.
Join our local government procurement forum
Sign up to our local government procurement Knowledge Hub forum where you can discuss and share a variety of topics, issues and solutions ranging from procurement reform, social care, ICT, construction, modern slavery and fraud within the procurement procedures of local government.
Modern slavery in public sector supply chains (e-learning course)
As part of Government’s efforts to tackling modern slavery in global supply chains, the Home Office’s Modern Slavery Unit and Joint Security and Resilience Centre have produced an e-learning course for public sector commercial staff on the practical steps they can take throughout the commercial lifecycle to identify and mitigate modern slavery risks.
The course should give users a strong set of skills to:
- recognise how modern slavery can manifest in supply chains
- spot modern slavery risks in procurement
- critically interrogate the assurances suppliers provide (such as social audits)
- drive improvements in modern slavery due diligence to create better outcomes for workers.
Access to this course is funded by the Government Commercial College (GCC), and is provided free of charge to public sector staff who have access to the GCC website. The course guides learners through a fictional case study about personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement, referring to the Government's modern slavery guidance for personal protective equipment (PPE) – however, the content is also applicable to staff working on other types of procurement.
Free Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) e-learning module on how to spot bid rigging
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has created a free e-learning module on how to spot bid rigging – to help procurement professionals root out illegal attempts to win contracts through anti-competitive conduct.
The module should take approximately 30 minutes to complete and 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
- know what they can do to mitigate risks
- know how best to report suspicious activity.
The CMA has also launched its Cheating or Competing? campaign which includes 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, email cma_procurementsupport@cma.gov.uk
LGA National Construction Conference (Leeds)
Tuesday 7 March, 9.15am–3.30pm | Horizon Leeds, 2 Brewery Wharf, Kendall Street, Leeds LS10 1JR
Procurement Reform Conference (London)
Wednesday 1 March, 8.30am–4.00pm | Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London SW1P 3EE
Procurement Reform Conference (Manchester)
Tuesday 14 March, 8.30am–4.00pm | Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, Portland Street, Manchester M1 4PH
Local Government Procurement Expo (LGPE) 2023
Thursday 27 April | Novotel London West (Hammersmith), International Centre, 1 Shortlands, London W6 8DR
The Social Value Conference 2023 – 'Towards a Social Value economy'
Tuesday 13–Wednesday 14 June | In person at Church House Westminster, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ
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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