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'Transforming public procurement' update
Procurement Bill progress
The Procurement Bill has completed its passage through the Committee Stage in the House of Commons – the Bill will now progress to Report and Third Reading. Once the Bill receives Royal Assent – which we expect to happen in the spring – work to finalise the secondary legislation (Statutory Instruments, or regulations) will take centre stage. This will include a public consultation on the draft regulations which we will be making a sector-wide response to. The consultation timeline will be shared in due course.
Following the consultation, the final version of the secondary legislation will be laid in Parliament and we expect that this will be the earliest point we could give six months’ advance notice of the new regime coming into effect, which we believe will happen in spring 2024 at the earliest.
Watch the Cabinet Office webinar recording
The Cabinet Office recently hosted a series of webinars which provided an update on the progression of the Procurement Bill and the wider reform programme. Those who missed the sessions or who would appreciate a recap can access the recording of the Cabinet Office 'Transforming public procurement' webinar, which we encourage you to share with colleagues.
Become a Cabinet Office 'superuser' and attend our April engagement events
Superusers are pivotal to the new programme as they will become the champions / advocates of the new regime within their organisation or sector. Superusers will also play a key role in sharing best practice, challenges and innovative opportunities when implementing the new regime, fostering collaborative learning amongst the commercial community.
Over 550 superuser nominations have been received and the first set of engagement events will take place online in April.
If you are registered with us as a superuser, you will receive an invitation soon.
If you are interested in becoming a superuser, please email procreformspocs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk – it would be great to have as much local government representation on this scheme as possible.
Funding for electric vehicle charging
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) has announced the expansion of the local electric vehicle infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme to 16 new areas, and the launch of an £8 million LEVI Capability Fund which to help equip councils with capacity and skills to scale up their plans for developing their charging strategy. The Government has also brought forward a further £7 million funding for the existing On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, bringing the total funding this year to £37 million.
Grassroots sports and leisure centres
Research, recently undertaken by UKactive, has highlighted that 31 per cent of council areas in England remain at risk of losing their leisure centres or seeing reduced services from 1 April, with around 350 facilities nationally already having seen service restrictions, temporary and permanent closures since October 2022.
The LGA Policy team continues to lobby for the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries Scheme and the Energy Bills Discount Scheme to be extended to leisure centres and swimming pools. The Minister for Sport will join our next LGA Culture, Tourism and Sport Board meeting on Monday 27 February. We know that this is an area of growing concern for many councils and we will keep you up to date with new developments on our Urgent support for public sport and leisure services webpage.
Buying for Schools programme – regional roundtable events for school business professionals
The Department for Education is holding roundtable events for school business professionals to network, share procurement issues and priorities, and find out more about the free procurement support that is available. Schools can register to attend one of the events, which are taking place until 30 March across England. The Buying for Schools suite of tools was recently updated with new tools, resources and access to networks.
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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