Businesses benefit from Council’s local spend
With over one third of its local spend being awarded to local suppliers, East Ayrshire Council’s Procurement Strategy for the year ahead puts local businesses and local communities at the heart of its ambitions for a sustainable local economy.
At a meeting of East Ayrshire’s Cabinet earlier this week, councillors approved the 2024/25 Procurement Strategy which aims to deliver optimum value for money, tackle inequality and enhance the wellbeing of local communities.
Last year, the Council’s total spend on supplies and services was just over £180m, of which £58m was directly awarded to Ayrshire based businesses and suppliers. And approximately 62% of the Ayrshire spend went to businesses with an East Ayrshire postcode (£36.1m).
The Strategy is aligned to the Council’s Community Wealth Building aspirations and for the last financial year the Council’s local spend increased by over £3.6m, with the number of approved local suppliers also on the rise. In total 406 Ayrshire businesses benefited from council procurement last year, of which 260 businesses were based within East Ayrshire.
Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of East Ayrshire Council said:
“East Ayrshire Council is the largest organisation in East Ayrshire - with significant spending power - and we recognise that our procurement actions have an impact on our local economy, our environment and society as a whole.
“Community Wealth Building underpins our procurement practices and we are also working with colleagues in North and South Ayrshire councils to ensure the whole of Ayrshire - local people and local businesses - benefit from this approach and it’s really encouraging to see that there has been an noticeable increase in both spend and number of businesses securing council contracts over the last couple of years.
“The Team has also supported several local businesses to help them realise benefits for local communities through our hugely successful community defibrillator initiative. Over the last two years 30 companies have generously donated 52 devices to East Ayrshire communities - some donating multiple times - helping to save local lives. This demonstrates our continued commitment to work with public, private, voluntary and third sectors as a means of providing more benefits and cost effective services for our communities.”
The Procurement Team actively supports local businesses to help them bid for work with the Council, with training and regular ‘Meet the Buyer’ events. The next ‘Meet the buyer’ event will take place on Wednesday 5 June 2024 at Hampden Park.
Supplier Development Programme | Helping you bid better (sdpscotland.co.uk)