Issue - meetings

The report was introduced by Councillor Andy Wilson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance who highlighted that:

• The Policy came following a lengthy consultation process
• Out of 552 million spent on procurement, under 120 million was spent on local suppliers. 66% of these were small or medium enterprises
• In order to act responsibly to the local economy, Lambeth wanted to increase this number which it aimed to do so focusing on 6 key areas as set out in the report
• The Council was committed to its contribution.

Councillor Scott Ainslie, a visiting Member, highlighted an issue which he had also raised at Corporate Committee. This was in regard to excluding companies that Lambeth might object to, especially if they had done social harm elsewhere. Councillor Ainslie also addressed Cabinet on single use plastics and reduced emissions which, had not featured as a commitment in fewer than half of the 81 contract awards, contract management and the social value fund selection process. It was noted that it was great to see that the £500million total had been spent locally.

 Councillor Andy Wilson, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance explained that:

• Exclusion of firms that may not align with Lambeth values was explored as a criterion, but Legal Services advised that this was not possible. However, where a company had a contract with the Council there was a certain type of behaviour that would be expected
• The graph on paragraph 1.5 of the report was not a fair representation on types of procurement that went to procurement board. Some contract awards do not have emissions and single use plastics involved
• The Social Impact Framework would look at broadening criteria to acknowledge a range of issues on the climate emergency
• There was a live website for the social value fund where small organisations could apply. This application would then go through a well-structured process.

Sasa Glisic, Head of Procurement stated that there had been 20 training sessions throughout the year, which included the new electronic contract management system. The Public Contract Regulation 2015 allowed Lambeth to exclude providers under certain criteria for example those that were not paying tax. Furthermore, there was a standard selection questionnaire which would help filter tenders.

Cabinet made the following observations:

• The Policy was welcomed and highlighted the Council’s commitment to meet Air Quality targets
• The Social Value fund had been welcomed by the Voluntary and Community Sector, those who had applied fed back that they had found it straightforward and easy to do.

Following consideration, it was resolved that Cabinet:

1. Approved and agreed to adopt the update to Responsible Procurement Policy which covered all procurement and commercial activity including services, goods, works and concessions
2.  Agreed to delegate any minor revisions in response to the changing policy and/or regulatory framework to the Head of Procurement in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance.