Our commitments
Social value
We will continue to consider how our procurement
activities can achieve positive social outcomes
for Scotland’s people and communities in line
with our sustainable procurement strategy. We
will encourage suppliers to seek Living Wage
accreditation and explore opportunities to increase
payment of the Scottish Living Wage among
suppliers that pay some employees below this level.
We will continue to embed community benefits
provisions within all of our contracts, expanding
recent efforts to ensure these benefits are offered
and/or can be selected at a local level so that all
councils can achieve a direct benefit for their
local area.
We will continue to monitor and report on the
delivery of community benefits by suppliers,
including job opportunities, apprenticeships and
work experience. In particular, we will continue
to encourage the delivery of employment
opportunities for disadvantaged or disabled
workers through community benefits and/or the
participation of supported businesses and the third
sector within our supply chain.
Local impact
We will continue to consider local impact as part of
market analysis at an early stage in the procurement
process, and ensure that procurement strategies
deliver opportunities for SMEs, third sector bodies
and supported businesses. We will place particular
emphasis on local micro and SME businesses, which
constitute the majority of businesses in Scotland.
We will continue our work with the Supplier
Development Programme to create awareness
of tender opportunities among Scottish SMEs,
encourage participation, and provide training and
advice to help them become tender ready. We will
also explore further opportunities to work with
economic development teams within councils to
target local SMEs, third sector organisations and
supported businesses directly.
We will consider how we can increase direct and
supply chain opportunities for SMEs and local
contractors, particularly within our construction
contracts, and will promote opportunities for the
housing sector to create a positive impact in their
communities through the use of local suppliers
on Scotland Excel contracts and/or community
benefits.
Community benefits raise
funding for local good causes
Environmental benefits
We will embed contract specifications which
drive sound environmental practices including
minimising waste within production and packaging
and the appropriate use of recycled materials. We
will continue to encourage suppliers to reduce
their carbon footprint through recycling initiatives,
energy efficiency measures and improved delivery
logistics. We will champion specific changes
demanded by our customers such as eliminating
plastic straws from drink cartons.
Where appropriate, we will ensure our tender
evaluations consider ‘whole life’ costing,
particularly for environmental contracts where
there is an opportunity to recover value from waste
and support compliance with legislation, climate
change targets and circular economy objectives.
We will also lead by example by considering the
environmental impact of our own procurement and
business activities, and implementing processes
and initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint.
Sustainable procurement leadership
We will continue to participate in the development
of national sustainable procurement guidance and
tools as a key member of the Scottish Government’s
Policy Group and Best Practice Forum, and will
provide support to our councils in the use of these
resources.
We will actively promote a ‘whole organisation’
approach to sustainable procurement, taking a
lead role in the delivery of initiatives which build
the sector’s capacity and capability in sustainable
procurement including masterclasses, best practice
and knowledge sharing.
Our efforts to champion a sustainable approach will
be incorporated into our engagement with elected
members and senior officers to ensure that the
principles and benefits of sustainable procurement
are recognised at all levels within councils.
Goal 2: Outcomes supported
Our services facilitate the delivery of national and
local policy priorities
32 | Shared Vision, Shared Success. Our Corporate Strategy 2018–2023
Our services enable positive and sustainable
outcomes for people and communities
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