Building Healthier Communities: The Case for Investing in Public Health
Explore how targeted, community-based public health strategies can improve lives, reduce NHS pressure, and deliver cost savings for local authorities.
Local government leads way on SME procurement spend
13/05/2025 Councils are bucking the trend with spending on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), figures from the British Chambers of Commerce have revealed. |
Are you ready for the new procurement legislation?
20/02/2025 Richard Dickins, MD of Social Value Business, discusses the Procurement Act 2023 and asks if commissioning and procurement teams are ready for the legislation. |
National Procurement Policy Statement: What local authorities need to know
20/02/2025 The Government’s statement guiding procurement reforms has landed. Peter Ware, partner at Browne Jacobson, explains the key points that councils need to know. |
Local government spends £3.4bn with 39 ‘strategic suppliers’
18/12/2024 Public procurement experts Tussell find that local government spending with the Government’s ‘strategic suppliers’ has remained flat for five years. |
Call for national taskforce to ‘urgently’ reform AI procurement
13/11/2024 Ministers have been urged to establish a national taskforce to ‘urgently’ reform the procurement of AI in local government. |
Councils urged to use new law to drive social prosperity
11/10/2024 Local authorities should make use of new procurement laws to promote community prosperity, a think-tank has argued. |
The risks of waiting for the new Procurement Act
04/10/2024 Kay Sugg of Exponential-e cautions against delaying significant tenders until the new Procurement Act comes into effect. |
Councils lack adequate support on AI, research finds
30/09/2024 Local authorities are being left without adequate support to procure AI in the public interest, according to new research. |
£27m flood protection scheme gets the go-ahead
06/09/2024 Balfour Beatty has been awarded a £27m contract to deliver a flood protection scheme in Scotland on behalf of Perth and Kinross Council. |
Council may have broken law over £4m contracts
25/07/2024 Middlesbrough Council may have broken procurement law when it awarded four contracts worth more than £4m, an external audit has found. |
Council incurs £3.7m overspend on IT system
01/05/2024 Vale of Glamorgan Council took more than a year longer than planned to install a new IT system, leading to a £3.7m overspend. |
Cardo Group provides insight into how valuable Frameworx is as a procurement solution
12/02/2024 Frameworx impresses with its intuitive, easy-to-use procurement approaches which are seeing high value contracts being mobilised in the social housing sector. |
Public Procurement Quarterly Update: 2023 Q4
29/01/2024 Public procurement experts and LocalGov partners, Tussell, have analysed the local government procurement market for the fourth quarter of 2023. |
Local government spends £2.8bn with 39 ‘strategic suppliers’
11/12/2023 Public procurement experts Tussell have analysed the local government procurement market for the financial year 22/23. |
Matrix launches refreshed Milestone offering to Pave the Way for Public Procurement Reform in the UK
13/11/2023 Workforce management solutions company Matrix has announced the launch of their enhanced Matrix Milestone solution, a procurement and supply management service line, with new technology and four new people appointments to their business development department, in readiness for the new procurement reform bill being launched in 2024. |
Let’s talk about incontinence: how effective procurement can benefit us all
01/11/2023 Tracy Evans, clinical team leader for the continence service at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, discusses the benefits of effectively procuring incontinence products. |
Public Procurement Quarterly Update: 2023 Q3
13/10/2023 Public procurement experts and LocalGov partners, Tussell, have analysed the local government procurement market for the third quarter of this year. |
Boycott Bill faces Scottish opposition
16/08/2023 The UK Government’s planned ban on council boycotts is facing opposition from Holyrood. |
Third of council procurement spending goes to SMEs
31/07/2023 Just over one-third of English local councils’ procurement spending went directly to SMEs in 2022, new analysis shows. |
Government to 'reset’ local audit
18/07/2023 Local government minister Lee Rowley said statutory deadlines would be announced in the autumn in a bid to tackle the audit backlog. |
Public Procurement Quarterly Update: 2023 Q2
12/07/2023 Public procurement experts and LocalGov partners, Tussell, have analysed the local government procurement market for the second quarter of this year. |
Tory MPs oppose boycotts ban
04/07/2023 Government moves to ban councils from imposing their own boycotts has faced opposition from Conservative benches. |
Gove to pursue council boycott ban
19/06/2023 Legislation aimed at preventing councils from launching their own boycotts has been introduced to Parliament. |
Audit body in respect call amid tensions
18/05/2023 The organisation responsible for appointing local government auditors has urged ‘everyone to act with appropriate professional respect’ amid tensions. |
Decision to pull £50m flood scheme ‘disappointing’
15/05/2023 The Government’s decision not to go ahead with a £50m flood prevention scheme has been described as ‘disappointing’ by council leaders. |
Public Procurement Quarterly Update: 2023 Q1
10/05/2023 Public procurement experts Tussell sat down with LocalGov to analyse the local government procurement market for the first quarter of this year. |
Seven senior public sector figures given seats at framework provider’s top table
24/04/2023 The non-executive directors appointed to not-for-profit construction framework provider LHC Procurement Group hail from housing associations across Britain. |
‘Significant concerns' over regional care cooperatives
23/03/2023 Regional care cooperatives (RCCs) will not resolve the issues around child care placements, councils have said. |
Tussell Local Gov Quarterly Update: 2022 Q4
08/02/2023 Tussell provides analysis on the local government procurement market for the fourth quarter 2022, with a focus on cost of living and fuel poverty. |
Builder insolvency poses an imminent problem for housing associations
18/11/2022 While housing association landlords could be facing numerous housebuilder insolvencies this year, Louise Stewart says the problem can be addressed. |
Tussell Local Gov Quarterly Update: 2022 Q3
11/11/2022 Tussell provides analysis on the local government procurement market for the second quarter of this year, with a special focus on cost of living and fuel poverty. |
Local government spending more with SMEs than Whitehall, report finds
13/10/2022 Local government spends more of its procurement budget with SMEs than central government or the NHS, new research has revealed. |
Tussell LocalGov Quarterly Update: Q2 2022
11/10/2022 Tussell provides analysis on the local government procurement market for the second quarter of this year, with a special focus on health and social services. |
Levelling up education
04/10/2022 James Lowe, director of Grolife, argues that local authorities should level up the procurement process and put pupils, not price, first. |
Warning of £75m audit fee increase
03/10/2022 Experts have warned councils could be hit by a £75m increase to their audit fees as details of the next five-year procurement were announced. |
Balfour Beatty appointed as sole contractor to £4bn framework
28/09/2022 International infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has been appointed as the sole contractor to two SCAPE civil engineering frameworks worth a total of £4bn. |
Labour pledges 'biggest wave of insourcing for a generation'
26/09/2022 A Labour Government would oversee the ‘biggest wave of insourcing for a generation,’ deputy leader Angela Rayner has said. |
Local government has a central role to play in delivering on net zero
02/09/2022 Nathan Goode calls on local authorities to take a fresh look at social value in procurement. |
Social Value: From short-changed to life-changing
17/08/2022 Peter Masonbrook explains what three things local authorities can do to ensure suppliers deliver social value. |
How local authorities can look for social value in their SME tech suppliers
12/08/2022 Alex Jackson explains how councils can look for social value in their tech suppliers and how this will benefit local citizens. |
Delivering social change through early payment
09/08/2022 Anthony Persse, CEO, Optimum Finance & Saltare, looks at how local authorities can help deliver societal change through the early payment of suppliers. |
Committee ‘concerned’ about £10bn of GLA contracts
26/07/2022 A committee investigating the procurement practices of the GLA Group has warned that it is ‘concerned’ about billions of pounds’ worth of contracts. |
Councils spending £9bn a year more on local suppliers, research finds
22/07/2022 Councils are spending 46% of their procurement budgets with local suppliers, new research has revealed. |
Council third party spend reaches £70bn
04/07/2022 Local authority spend with third parties has continued to increase significantly and has almost reached the £70bn mark, new research reveals. |
New anti-Putin powers given to councils
26/05/2022 Councils have been handed powers to terminate commercial relationships with firms that have ‘strong links’ to Vladimir Putin’s ‘murderous regime’. |
Call for clarity on local government's use of Hikvision surveillance cameras
26/04/2022 Local government minister, Michael Gove, has been urged to clarify his position on buying surveillance cameras from tech company Hikvision. |
Local authorities’ pivotal role in levelling up through collaborative, value-led procurement
20/04/2022 Exploring the link between true levelling up and procurement, Elaine Elkington addresses how and why local authorities and public sector organisations play a key role in unlocking equity for ‘left behind’ areas. |
Liverpool City Region adopts new social value tool
14/04/2022 The Liverpool City Region has adopted a new social value tool to help tackle the city region’s social, economic and environmental challenges. |
Delay to EPR will create 'vacuum of uncertainty' for councils
04/03/2022 Councils will be forced to award waste management contracts in a 'vacuum of uncertainty' following the delay to the introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR), the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) has warned. |
Liverpool launches £40m framework procurement
21/01/2022 A £40m highways framework covering the Liverpool Combined Authority region is open to supplier bids. |
Transforming public procurement – the road to flexibility?
21/12/2021 Craig Elder, partner at Browne Jacobson, looks at public procurement. |
Councils should use procurement to boost local economies, think tank says
07/12/2021 Local authorities should strive to be more ethical and place-sensitive when buying goods and services, think tank says. |
County takes action after warning it may have breached procurement law
25/11/2021 Cambridgeshire County Council has made a number of improvements to their procurement processes after an external audit found the local authority might have breached procurement law. |
Accelerating local government’s transition to net zero with AI-enabled procurement
22/10/2021 Muhammad Malik explains how local government can harness AI technologies to streamline the cost of procuring renewable energy without impacting daily operations. |
Why security should be top priority for the £2bn data procurement framework
29/09/2021 The local government's acknowledgement of the importance of data should be tempered with caution about data security and regulation adherence argues AJ Thompson. |
Homes England launches £20bn dynamic purchasing system
07/09/2021 Councils and housing associations will find it easier to build houses thanks to reforms in the way Homes England procures housebuilders and disposes of land. |
How key is procurement for reaching climate targets in local government?
02/08/2021 After hosting a first-of-its-kind event, Net Zero Week, Gavin Rimmington shares insight into why procurement is key for enabling the public sector to reach climate targets. |
Six ‘must haves’ for Boris’ levelling up vision
21/07/2021 Nigel Wilcock offers six important points to add to the levelling up debate. |
Construction Playbook: A roadmap to a better way
19/07/2021 Mark Robinson reviews the impact of the government’s Construction Playbook, after its first six months since publication. |
Procurement and the challenges of decarbonising local government fleets
12/07/2021 Gavin Rimmington offers insight into the important role of procurement to decarbonising local government fleets, and the most efficient ways to enable large-scale transitioning. |
Cardiff Council to manage procurement services for Monmouthshire
08/07/2021 Cardiff Council will manage Monmouthshire County Council's procurement operations and functions for the next three years. |
Councils charged triple the recommended mark-up on IT products
19/05/2021 Councils are paying more than three times the recommended mark-up on technology products, a new study has revealed. |
Supporting local authorities to level up economies
19/05/2021 How can the construction industry support the public sector to achieve the government’s ambition of levelling up? Paul Kelly reports. |
Birmingham CC spends nearly £200m in local economy
26/04/2021 Birmingham City Council has spent £194,619,328 in its surrounding areas as part of an effort to improve the social value of its commissioning and procurement. |
Social value going upstream
26/02/2021 Approaching a decade on since the Social Value Act 2012, there has never been a better time for social value to become more than something considered alongside procurement, argues Tim Pope. |
Why green will be the next tick box for procurement
23/02/2021 Richard Lilwall explains how AI can be used to help councils develop their green fleet strategies. |
Care workers were left without PPE during first wave of COVID-19, watchdog warns
10/02/2021 Social care providers were left without adequate PPE at the start of the pandemic, the public spending watchdog has warned today. |
English councils spent £63bn on third parties last year
28/01/2021 Third party expenditure by local authorities in England has outstriped inflation for the last three years, new figures have revealed. |
Trade union calls for higher human rights standards in PPE
26/01/2021 A local government trade union has called for new laws to stop PPE being supplied by companies that exploit workers. |
Is the pandemic doing the job of G-Cloud?
01/10/2020 As the pandemic see real changes in public sector IT procurement practices it is now crucial that they remain in place, argues James Cherry. |
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The pressure of procurement
30/09/2020 Local authorities may be missing out on the chance to extract maximum value for their new-build housing projects, according to Tim Young. |
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Councils to ‘regularly report’ on efforts to fight modern slavery
22/09/2020 Local authorities and other public bodies which have a budget of £36m or more will be required to regularly report on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains. |
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Community Wealth Building: Kick-starting economic recovery on the doorstep
24/08/2020 Sarah Stone explores how CWB can be used to build back better post-Covid and how councils can maximise social value in the procurement process. |
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£13bn construction procurement frameworks launched
21/07/2020 Two public sector frameworks totalling £13bn have been launched aimed at providing direct support to local economies and the green recovery. |
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Running on empty
17/07/2020 Mark Robinson discusses the widening gap in public sector funding and the implications for the sector’s built environment partners. |
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PPN 04/20 – What’s changing and how can we plan for the future?
02/07/2020 Lucy Woods explains what contracting authorities should do to prepare for new PPN 04/20 guidance. |
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Construction spend must deliver social value, argues report
30/06/2020 Construction spend must deliver more ‘tangible social impact’ to support disadvantaged communities post-Covid, according to a new report. |
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Councils get new advice to combat procurement fraud
09/06/2020 New advice to help councils in England fight procurement fraud has been published by the Government. |
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Pan-London partnership for PPE launched
19/05/2020 A new pan-London partnership has been established to provide personal protective equipment or care homes and other frontline services. |
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IfG: Extend outsourcing reforms to councils
04/03/2020 Government reforms of outsourcing to avoid another Carillion collapse must be extended to local government where commercial skills lag behind Whitehall, a report from the Institute for Government (IfG) think-tank has said. |
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What local government should ask startups
12/02/2020 Investment in digital solutions to service delivery may help to deliver greater public satisfaction with local government at lower cost. Edd Elliot offers a few tips to buyers seeking to understand whether a small business is offering a solution that matches your problem. |
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Leisure centre contracts in the era of the climate crisis
07/02/2020 Why contracts for the future operation and maintenance of leisure facilities need to change to accommodate issues like the climate emergency. |
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Maximising tech spend
09/01/2020 David Beggs calls on local government to take a much broader view of technology to get the most value from it. |
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Lost in translation: sustainability down the construction supply chain
08/01/2020 Luke Deamer, Erica Russell and Jacquetta Lee explore sustainability down the construction supply chain. |
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Councils being charged 'shocking' markup on IT products
30/09/2019 Councils are paying almost four times the recommended mark-up on technology products, new analysis has revealed. |
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Going the extra mile
08/08/2019 Paul Doe explains how local authorities can deliver value to citizens beyond connectivity. |
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Nottingham Council to supply its own water
26/07/2019 Nottingham City Council is set to become the first council to run its own water services in-house, saving an estimated £64,000 a year. |
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FORS: supply chain compliance to ensure efficiency
22/07/2019 Rajinder Sharma explains how the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme helps local authorities to drive up best practice and strengthen its supply chain. |
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Setting the standard
18/07/2019 Terry Coyle explains why it makes sense to work with a company that has its management system and auditor competency processes approved by UKAS. |
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Council backs campaign for procurement reform
11/07/2019 Oxford City Council has become the first authority to back a fair tax campaign. |
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Kier to cut 1,200 jobs and ditch housing division
17/06/2019 Kier Group is to cut around 1,200 jobs and make savings of £55m over the next two years, amid a planned sell-off of many of its commercial interests. |
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Amazon awarded £460m in public sector contracts since 2015
14/06/2019 A contract awarded to Amazon by a local government purchasing organisation is the biggest in the UK public sector, according to new research. |
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Councils urged to record data on procurement of single-use plastic bottles
07/06/2019 A third of councils are failing to record how many single-use plastic bottles they have procured over the last five years, according to new research. |
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Councils exposed following Kier profit warning
06/06/2019 Local authorities are heavily exposed to struggling construction giant Kier which faced a huge fall in its share price this week, according to the latest figures. |
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Reframing the apprenticeship levy deadline for spending
05/06/2019 Lizzy Grayson discusses how the apprenticeship levy has changed post-deadline for spending . |
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Unchaining social value
31/05/2019 A new report reveals some councils are building social value into their procurement – but that senior council decision makers must take more interest in securing broader benefits when commissioning services. |
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Top panel formed to study local impact of Social Value Act
23/05/2019 Localis has launched a research project asking if the Government is providing social, economic and environmental benefits through public procurement. |
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Coming to terms with late payments
02/05/2019 Neil Washington explains how the public sector can strengthen SMEs by ensuring their contractors operate fair payment terms. |
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A £3m fund launched to improve infrastructure procurement
18/04/2019 A £3m fund has been made available for pilot projects that explore new approaches to procurement in housing and council-led infrastructure construction. |
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UniCORN Framework
26/02/2019 Why BT UniCORN Framework – Join the partnership to cut costs and create opportunities. |
