North Ayrshire Council is continuing to maintain its commitment to local companies, a report has confirmed.
At a meeting of Cabinet on Tuesday, elected members learned that there had been another annual increase in spend locally when analysing and breaking down procurement over the last 12 months.
Under its Community Wealth Building initiative, the Council has looked to make sure local firms are benefiting from the Council’s spending power.
The report highlights that £80.5m was spent locally with 793 suppliers – an increase of £9m from the previous year. To underline the consistent pattern of spending local, the report states that since 2015-16 local spend has increased by £44.8m – a 125% increase.
Over the last year, most suppliers used by North Ayrshire Council are also Scottish.
Quote:”“These figures are extremely encouraging and show we are delivering our promise of supporting local businesses and driving Community Wealth Building. We have introduced many measures to try to help people through the current financial challenges and this is another important way in which we are making a difference. By buying local goods and services where possible, it means the money we spend can be circulated locally, supporting businesses and helping their workforce. We will endeavour to continue this trend by supporting and helping local businesses as much as possible,” said Councillor Christina Larsen, Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement
Quote from:
The Council is aiming to maximise investment into North Ayrshire in the years to come and is actively working with local businesses to help prepare them when bidding for tenders.
This includes organising events to raise awareness of opportunities with local suppliers as well as running procurement support sessions throughout North Ayrshire, and streamlining the process to ensure local companies get the opportunity to bid on local contracts.