Agenda item

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Assistant Director of Finance introduced the Annual Procurement Report and advised that new legislation had come into effect in February 2025, hence this new report to the Committee. She explained that the report covered the Council’s new procurement strategy and activity and performance for 2024/25 and 2025/26 and demonstrated how procurement was being delivered and contractual procedures were being followed in line with the new Act.

Ms Dennis explained that Nottinghamshire County Council had provided a service to the Council since October 2023. She noted that the County Council was updating its reporting systems and that the statistics were improved from those provided in the report. She said that the County Council was keen to measure the number of contracts going to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local suppliers and  informed the Group that 64% of the Council’s contracts had been awarded to SMEs and that 36% had been awarded to local suppliers, both of which were above the average for the Country. She said work had taken place on setting up frameworks which could be used at no cost and providing training sessions for Officers and Councillors regarding the new legislation, which was ongoing. She added that much work had also taken place on the contracts register to ensure information was being captured.

Ms Dennis said that the number of contracts awarded this year was lower than the previous year but that this was explained due to a number of contracts nearing expiration last year, with this year more accurately reflecting business as usual.

Councillor Regan asked how local suppliers and supply chains were defined and for examples. Ms Dennis said that local referred to within Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and said that current reporting was based on postcode and head office location, but that the new system would provide improved location data and help distinguish between head office location and delivery from a local office. She said that types of local contracts included construction works, grounds maintenance, car parks, grounds works, temporary staffing agencies and local IT suppliers.

Ms Dennis said that the County Council held a number of supplier engagement events for local suppliers which were highly attended and which trained suppliers in how to use the Council’s framework.

Councillor Gowland asked about the reasons for the positive performance with SMEs and local suppliers and Ms Dennis said that the increase in use of local suppliers was being seen across all of the local councils that she supported and thought that the supplier engagement events and some changes introduced by the Procurement Act 2023 had all helped, with the legislation providing more flexibility in some circumstances to restrict opportunities to local suppliers.

Councillor Gaunt asked about preference for local suppliers and Ms Dennis said that contracts could only be awarded according to the criteria of the contract. She said that if going out to open tender and restricting a contract to local suppliers due to the value added by that, if only one bid was received that would be classed as open and fair.

The Chair asked about assurance and vetting of contracts and suppliers and Mr Dennis confirmed that the County Council was responsible for this work. She confirmed that for smaller suppliers when a contract went out for tender, bidders would answer a set of general questions, for example in relation to health and safety, and that when a contract was awarded, it was awarded subject to due diligence and the supplier would then be required to provide the appropriate documentation, such as for health and safety, and that checks, such as financial checks, would be be carried out, depending on what was relevant for each contract.

It was RESOLVED that Governance Scrutiny Group scrutinised the procurement activity and performance for 2024/25 and 2025/26.