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Sustainable procurement
30/12/2009
Sustainability is at the heart of the Scottish Government's Purpose of increased sustainable economic growth - and now it is at the heart of the Government's approach to procurement.
The Scottish Sustainable Procurement Action Plan has been published, setting out how the Scottish Government can lead the way in sustainable procurement. It aims to help organisations across the public sector deliver more sustainable outcomes to their procurement activity.
It looks at the three strands of sustainability:
- Social - eg supporting the Third Sector, equalities and fair trade
- Economic - eg supporting Scottish business, particularly SMEs
- Environmental - including issues such as waste avoidance, recycling, energy efficiency and supporting action on climate change
The Government's Strategic Board has signed off an action plan which will help all staff in the Scottish Government deliver more sustainable procurement.
The Action Plan has the support of the top management team. Paul Gray will be the lead Director General on sustainable procurement on behalf of the Strategic Board and will report on progress to the Board.
Permanent Secretary John Elvidge said:
"Strategic Board is delighted to endorse and support the Sustainable Procurement Action Plan. We spend millions of pounds of taxpayers' money through procurement, and alongside our obligation to deliver value for money we should take the opportunity whenever possible to spend that money in more sustainable ways.
"We already have a good record on sustainable procurement, but there has never been a more important time to step up our efforts.
"But this isn't something which can be left to Procurement colleagues. Every single one of us needs to be thinking more sustainably all the time - particularly when we are spending taxpayers' money - and this Action Plan gives us the framework to do that."