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Corporate responsibility is set to receive a significant boost in the
UK as the result of a government-commissioned inquiry urging ministers
to introduce a sustainable procurement plan covering their annual
£150billion ($277bn) spending programme.
The Sustainable Procurement Task Force, set up a year ago, has told the government to set mandatory minimum product and service standards for sustainable procurement in construction in priority areas such as energy and food, and by 2009 to phase out products and services that fall below those standards.
It says all public sector organizations spending more than £1bn a year must appoint a commercial director with responsibility for sustainable procurement by April 2007.
The task force was established at the behest of the prime minister, Tony Blair, who is expected to respond by October.
Its final report, published last month, says the government has made some progress on responsible sourcing of its goods and services, but that the work carried out to date has been limited and piecemeal. It recommends existing sustainable procurement initiatives be rationalized into a ‘single integrated framework’, with overall responsibility given to one government department, most likely the Treasury.
Once the government has made clear what standards are mandatory, it should then be prepared to ‘apply sanctions’, among them the withdrawal of contracts for non-compliance, with monitoring by ‘external scrutiny bodies’.
Of 174 government ‘spending areas’, the task force has identified 18 as priorities for sustainable procurement and further narrowed this down to a shortlist of ten (see box).
The 18 areas have a combined spend of £88bn a year, represent 59 per cent of government spending on procurement and were identified by volume of expenditure, sustainability risk and the potential for ‘quick wins.’ White goods and paper are given as examples of quick wins.
The findings of the inquiry have generally been welcomed by business. Bruce Bendell, head of CSR at United Utilities, said that although the measures would have only a small direct impact on his company, they would serve as a ‘welcome signal’ and were ‘long overdue’.
The task force included Charlotte Grezo, Vodafone’s CSR director, Shaun McCarthy, BAA’s head of sustainability and utilities, and Hans Wendschlag, head of environmental strategies at Hewlett-Packard Europe.
The Sustainable Procurement Task Force, set up a year ago, has told the government to set mandatory minimum product and service standards for sustainable procurement in construction in priority areas such as energy and food, and by 2009 to phase out products and services that fall below those standards.
It says all public sector organizations spending more than £1bn a year must appoint a commercial director with responsibility for sustainable procurement by April 2007.
The task force was established at the behest of the prime minister, Tony Blair, who is expected to respond by October.
Its final report, published last month, says the government has made some progress on responsible sourcing of its goods and services, but that the work carried out to date has been limited and piecemeal. It recommends existing sustainable procurement initiatives be rationalized into a ‘single integrated framework’, with overall responsibility given to one government department, most likely the Treasury.
Once the government has made clear what standards are mandatory, it should then be prepared to ‘apply sanctions’, among them the withdrawal of contracts for non-compliance, with monitoring by ‘external scrutiny bodies’.
Of 174 government ‘spending areas’, the task force has identified 18 as priorities for sustainable procurement and further narrowed this down to a shortlist of ten (see box).
The 18 areas have a combined spend of £88bn a year, represent 59 per cent of government spending on procurement and were identified by volume of expenditure, sustainability risk and the potential for ‘quick wins.’ White goods and paper are given as examples of quick wins.
The findings of the inquiry have generally been welcomed by business. Bruce Bendell, head of CSR at United Utilities, said that although the measures would have only a small direct impact on his company, they would serve as a ‘welcome signal’ and were ‘long overdue’.
The task force included Charlotte Grezo, Vodafone’s CSR director, Shaun McCarthy, BAA’s head of sustainability and utilities, and Hans Wendschlag, head of environmental strategies at Hewlett-Packard Europe.
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