Procurement Policy 2025 to 2029 - including the Social Value statement - National and local context

The national legislative environment is changing as we transition from the Procurement Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR2015) to the Procurement Act 2023 (enacted 24 February 2025), plus embedding the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (enacted 1 January 2024), to relevant applicable procurements.

The Procurement Act 2023 (the Act) establishes one set of clear and consistent rules for the whole UK public sector. This new public procurement regime will create a more open, fair and transparent system that aims to deliver better value for money.

The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) is fundamentally linked to the Act and the Council is required to use the power of our spend to support the delivery of national policy priorities alongside our local ones. The NPPS states that the council must have regard to the importance of delivering value for money. Specifically by:

• driving economic growth and strengthening supply chains by giving small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) a fair change, creating high quality jobs and championing innovation
• delivering social and economic value that supports the Government’s mission including by working in partnership across organisational boundaries where appropriate
• ensuring the right commercial capability and standards are in place to procure and manage contracts effectively and collaborate with other contracting authorities to delivery best value

These NPPS priorities very much align with and support the Council Plan priorities. The Council Plan identifies four key areas in which we can influence to make the biggest impact to improve the health and wellbeing of our residents, which are:

• the local economy can have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals. We want to enable the move to an economy that builds wealth locally
• we want to achieve greater social value in public sector procurements, exploring more ways of retaining wealth within our community. We will seek to utilise our assets as a catalyst for economic activity, generating opportunities for residents, businesses, social enterprises and the community and voluntary sector alike
• the environment and we want to support the growth of a low carbon economy by working with others to identify opportunities, help businesses and residents manage resources better and ensure appropriate training opportunities are in place. We want to conserve and enhance biodiversity in Cumberland and to achieve this we will be working in partnership to deliver the Local Nature Recovery Strategy
• we want Cumberland to be a high performing Council (supported by a high performing procurement team)
• we are committed to addressing systemic inequalities such as racism, and making Cumberland a fairer place