Bath & North East Somerset Council is backing a ‘Buy Local Buy Social’ purchasing initiative designed to help boost the West of England economy.
A newly-launched Buy Local Buy Social website – www.buylocalbuysocial.com – aims to encourage innovative commissioning and procurement.
It supports the Council’s “Think Local” Procurement Strategy and connects buying power with the local economy and social communities in the West of England.
The mini-website launch follows the successful ‘Think Local’ event in Bath held on 11th July at Bath Guildhall. This brought together more than 120 organisations, including housing providers, local authorities, large and small contractors and social enterprises.
It will support the Buy Local Buy Social project and signpost organisations to the resources and contacts to support their work.
Councillor David Bellotti (Lib-Dem, Lyncombe), the Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Resources, said: “Millions of pounds each year are spent in publicly-funded contracts. We believe more of these should be awarded locally and we want to work with local suppliers to make it happen.
“Buy Local Buy Social is a partnership pilot project in the West of England supported by regional housing associations and local authorities and sponsored by Bath & North East Somerset Council.
“The project was initiated and is supported by Assembly – a partnership of social entrepreneurs and experts – and is already being hailed as a great success.
“It is demonstrating to local communities that we want to work with them to create new opportunities for local businesses, to promote and share success stories and to connect regional organisations for the benefit of the local economy.”
Already, Assembly are building a resource library to showcase the best case studies of how organisations have delivered social value through procurement.
The mini-website will also contain profiles of organisations committed to achieving social outcomes and signposts to funders and support.
For more information, or to sign up to the Buy Local Buy Social initiative, visit www.buylocalbuysocial.com, email [email protected] or call 01225 477030.