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Transforming Public Procurement
Happy New Year to you; we hope you managed to enjoy a well-deserved rest over the festive break. 2024 is set to be an exciting year for us all with the changes outlined in the new Procurement Bill coming into play over the course of the year. We will of course be keeping you as up-to-date as possible with all the very latest offers of support as set out in the Cabinet Office’s suite of learning and development tools which include the Transforming Public Procurement Knowledge Drops. The 10 one-hour modules are still be developed and there is one last call from the Cabinet Office who are looking for willing, volunteer testers. If you are willing to help please email us at procurement@local.gov.uk. And for those of you looking to book something to look forward to after the break, there’s the free Procurement Act Expo at the NEC, Birmingham on 12 March 2024.
The Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel: call for panel members
NHS England is establishing the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel, which will have oversight responsibilities for the procurement of healthcare services under the Provider Selection Regime (PSR).
They are appointing panellists to work on cases involving the PSR. This is an important role in helping to influence the commissioning and procurement of healthcare services in the NHS and across local government, making it work well for patients and taxpayers. You will be offering important advice about whether relevant authorities have followed the PSR rules.
We welcome candidates from the health and care sectors, and other complex, high-profile sectors with the relevant skills and experience. Your experience could be in procurement, healthcare contracting, commissioning, legal or other commercial domains. The closing date for applications is 15 January.
The Nationwide Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP): January update
This NAFP briefing conveys key messages from NAFP members and is aimed primarily at local authority commissioning colleagues and strategic partners. This first newsletter of 2024 brings together some of the key messages from their membership and provides an update on some of the areas of work NAFP is involved in, including:
- sufficiency, recruitment and retention
- fee reviews
- placement plans
- commissioning and contracting
- Care Review implementation.
House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts: competition in public procurement report
At the time the Committee of Public Accounts took evidence, Parliament was considering the Procurement Bill. With the introduction of the Procurement Act, this was an opportunity to look at lessons learned from Government’s transformation programme in procurement from the last 12 years with a list of recommendations set out in the full Committee of Public Accounts report.
One Public Estate: Brownfield Land Release Fund (BRLF2) Round 3 open for applications
The third and final round of BLRF2 has been launched by the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities and is now officially open for applications, with up to £80 million capital funding available to support the release of council-owned brownfield land for housing.
Applications close on 14 February 2024. For more information about how to apply visit the BLRF2 application page.
New report seeks to foster closer collaboration between energy networks and local authorities
Energy Networks Association, in partnership with Regen, has published a report focused on how electricity and gas network operators can work more closely with local authorities to develop and deliver net zero plans. More than 30 local authorities fed into the Collaborating for Local Net Zero Planning and Delivery report which sets out how local authorities and energy networks currently work together to plan and deliver decarbonisation and outlines potential next steps to foster further collaboration.
The report identifies new Regional Energy Strategic Planners (RESPs), set up by OFGEM in the autumn, who will work with organisations at a local level including local government and gas and electricity networks, to improve understanding of the infrastructure needed in different parts of the country.
Secure AI system development: guidelines for local government
AI brings with it great opportunity for local government; however, data security is a risk that needs to be considered and managed. The National Cyber Security Centre has published guidelines to serve as a reliable framework for developing AI systems that safeguard sensitive information, enabling efficient and secure public service delivery. This document is aimed primarily at providers of AI systems who are using models hosted by an organisation, or are using external application programming interfaces. We urge all stakeholders (including data scientists, developers, managers, decision-makers and risk owners) to read these guidelines to help them make informed decisions about the design, development, deployment andoperationof your AI systems.
LGA housing retrofit and decarbonisation
8 January 2024, 10.00am - 11.30am | Virtual event
The Procurement Act Expo
12 March 2024 | In-person conference
LGA Transformation Conference (Hybrid event)
26 March 2024, 10.30am - 2.30pm | 18 Smith Square, Westminster, London and online | Hybrid event
first is the LGA's membership magazine, distributed to around 16,700 councillors and local authority chief executives in England and Wales. Councillors and officers can sign up for the first e-bulletin using their council email addresses and/or access first online to browse LGA news stories, features, good practice case studies and comment pieces, including those from past issues.
For editorial inquiries, please email karen.thornton@local.gov.uk. For advertising, contact Polena Boutwood, Media Sales Executive at polena.boutwood@cplone.co.uk or on 01223 378047.
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