Agenda item

Tina Holland, Programme Manager, and Susan Attard, Head of Programmes, to present

The Chairman invited Susan Attard, Head of Productivity, and Tina Holland, Programme Manager (Productivity), to introduce the report.

Susan set out the two future legislative proposals relating to procurement that would affect councils. First, the Transforming Government Procurement Green Paper, which was published in December for which the closing date for consultation is 10 March 2021. Second, a new National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) which Cabinet Office wish to legislate for from April 2021. LGA officers have been engaging with the National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement (NAG) on the wider consultation about the Green paper and formulating a response. LGA officers had also engaged with colleagues in the LGA’s Brussels office on potential legislation.

In relation to paragraph 3 within the report, Tina confirmed that there had been significant movement from government on the NPPS.

The proposed implementation date for the new legislation (NPPS) was April 2021. The effect on councils for the new legislation was as follows:

-        All councils will need to ‘take into account’ Government priorities in their procurement.

-        Councils will need to publish forward ‘pipelines’ of work from April 2022, if they have a spend of over £200m (reducing to £100m from April 2023) for at least 18 months in advance preferably 3-5 years.

-        From April 2021, councils with spend of over £200m, (reducing to £100m next year), will need to undertake a benchmark of their capability to do procurement.

Tina stated that LGA officers continued to work closely with the Cabinet Office and the Government commercial function and had received positive news from them about how the NPPS would be pitched; this would follow conversations with Members also. She emphasised the importance of contracting authorities’ priorities, and advised that there would be nothing in the initial legislation about an oversight body.

Tina confirmed that the response to the Green Paper consultation had not yet been signed off and that substantial comments from the IIB meeting would be fed into the draft response.

Following Susan and Tina’s introduction, Members raised the following points:

• In relation to the need for councils to publish forward pipelines, it could be clearer with regards to the stage at which contracts are published into a forward pipeline.

• Welcomed the inclusion of social value, because when we procure in our individual economies, there is a significant amount of work that councils can do through the procurement process.

• A concern was raised about the proposal to exclude NHS procurement rules from the simplification and the problem this will cause for councils who collaborate with NHS on delivering healthcare services.

Decision:

• Improvement & Innovation Board noted the update on the NPPS and identified issues within the Green Paper that the LGA should seek to influence.

Action:

Officers to take members’ views into account in the response to the Green Paper consultation.