Agenda item

This report seeks Cabinet’s approval to Brent Council’s new Procurement Strategy 2026 – 2030.  The Strategy sets out the guiding principles and priorities for procurement activity in Brent, and how the Council will use its spending power to deliver value for Brent’s residents and communities.

Cabinet RESOLVED to approve the Procurement Strategy 2026 – 2030 as detailed within the report.

Eligible for call-in: Yes

Deadline for submission of call-in: 6pm on Monday 16 March 2026

Councillor Rubin (as Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Community Power) introduced a report from the Corporate Director Service Reform and Strategy seeking approval for Brent's new Procurement Strategy 2026-2030 setting out the guiding principles and priorities for procurement activity in Brent, and how the Council would use its spending power to deliver value for Brent’s residents and communities.

In presenting the report, Councillor Rubin advised that the strategy recognised the importance of procurement not simply as a transactional exercise but as a means of using the Council's spending power to deliver not only value of money but also wider benefits for residents and communities including the support of community wealth building and strengthening of local supply chains to ensure that businesses benefiting from public contracts were also positively contributing to the borough. 

In highlighting the three core pillars around which the strategy had been built as community wealth building, effective contract management and strengthening the Council’s commercial capability, members were also advised of the specific emphasis also being placed on the role of procurement in supporting local supply chains, fair employment practices and environmental sustainability in order to ensure public finances were being utilised as effectively and responsibly as possible given the current financial pressures being experienced.

In welcoming and supporting the wider approach underpinning the strategy in terms the delivery of social value and community wealth building, members were also keen to recognise the way it had been designed to respond to the feedback and recommendations within the LGA’s Corporate Peer Challenge relating to development of the Council’s commissioning, procurement and contract management arrangements enabling the authority to take a more strategic, market aware and forward thinking approach in seeking to drive efficiencies and deliver value for residents alongside broader social, environmental and economic benefits.  Support was also expressed for the way in which the Strategy had been designed to embed the Council’s Good Work Standard as well as support the development of further opportunities to build on and strengthen fair employment and business practices whilst also seeking to deliver broader social value and increase local economic participation and resilience, working in partnership with local suppliers, SMEs, the Voluntary & Community Sector and social enterprises as part of the circular economy to strengthen local communities and support wider community cohesion and inclusive growth.

The Strategy was also welcomed from a regeneration perspective, with members noting the importance in ensuring that the contractors and partners involved in the delivery of major development projects across the borough were able to deliver real benefits for local people through jobs, apprenticeships, local supply chains and sustainable development in order to ensure that regeneration in Brent remained inclusive and continued to deliver lasting value for residents.  Members also commended the support embedded within the strategy towards the Council’s wider environmental and sustainability objectives including use of supply chains to deliver goods and services in low carbon and environmentally sustainable ways, reducing waste and promoting biodiversity and in support of the Council’s wider strategic priorities and National Procurement Strategy.

In thanking all those involved for their work in development of the strategy as a means of ensuring the Council’s approach towards procurement not only delivered value for money, but was also able to support inclusive growth, responsible business and strengthen local communities, members were also keen to recognise the alignment with the Procurement Improvement Programme and way in which the strategy had been designed to reflect wider changes and challenges within the local economy.  In welcoming the focus on place and people as well as commercial capability, capacity and the promotion of a vibrant and inclusive local economy, members felt the strategy provided a strong and transparent foundation on which to build.  Having noted the commitment towards maintaining the necessary oversight and monitoring of the approach towards the strategy’s ongoing development and delivery, Cabinet therefore RESOLVED to approve the Procurement Strategy 2026 – 2030 as detailed within the report.