English councils are being urged to rethink their approach to procurement in order to achieve broader economic, social, and environmental goals. According to a new report from the think-tank Localis, titled ‘New values, new landscape: public contracts for social prosperity – 2025 update’, there is a significant opportunity for local governments to redirect their annual £127 billion spend on goods and services to benefit the communities they serve.
The report highlights the potential impact of the government’s legislative agenda, including the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. While the former presents opportunities to expand socially focused contracting and strengthen community resilience, the latter could potentially centralize and unravel efforts to provide bespoke community-focused social value from new housing and infrastructure developments.
The study, which builds upon Localis’s previous report on the subject released last year, also takes into account the implementation of the new Procurement Act, which came into force in February and established a single, unified statutory framework for procurement.
Despite progress made in the past year, the report identifies several risks and contradictions that must be managed. These include the tension between central mission-setting and local strategic autonomy, fiscal constraints, and cultural inertia and risk aversion within commissioning bodies that could slow down the adoption of new commissioning approaches.
In order to make the most of the new procurement landscape, the report recommends that councils monitor the uptake and local implementation of ‘most advantageous tender’ provisions, the efficacy and accountability of new hybrid delivery models, and the integration of devolved spatial strategies into national investment plans.
Callin McLinden, the report’s author and senior Localis researcher, said, “Public procurement has become one of the clearest strategic levers councils have to deliver social prosperity; good jobs, resilient services and greener, fairer local economies.”
Commenting on the report, Justin Galliford, CEO of Norse Group, said, “The introduction of the Procurement Act 2023 and the forthcoming English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill present both new opportunities and challenges for councils seeking to embed social value at the heart of their services.”
The report was launched at a policy webinar titled “New Values Revisited” on 16th October and featured speakers such as Lindsay Maguire, Deputy Director of Procurement Reform at the Cabinet Office, and Darren Knowd, Chief Executive of DRKNOWD Limited.
Localis is an independent think-tank dedicated to politics, public service reform, and localism. They conduct research, hold events, and facilitate a network of members to challenge and stimulate the current governance of the UK.
Norse Group, the UK’s largest Local Authority Trading Company, is proud to be rooted in public values and driven by the belief that there’s always a better way to deliver for communities. The report can be downloaded from Localis’s website and the report launch was hosted by policy webinar on October 16th.