not in education, employment or training (Neets)<\/a> in the UK and boost regional growth, public sector buyers will double the consideration they give to whether companies will get more people into jobs, rather than if they can show they are improving social and environmental wellbeing. Government procurement contracts account for about \u00a390bn of taxpayers\u2019 money spent each year.<\/p>\nLouise Haigh, the first secretary of state, said the move would help small businesses who often find themselves locked out of contracts because of the requirements, which big businesses know how to get around.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery pound of taxpayer money should be spent in a way that benefits local communities \u2013 creating good jobs and giving young people the skills they need for the future,\u201d said Haigh. \u201cFor too long, securing government contracts has been a tick-box exercise that fails to deliver the positive change that people feel in their pocket and see in the places they live.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing things differently. These new rules will ensure the \u00a390bn that is spent each year through government contracts supports British jobs, skills and people in every postcode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Central government departments are required to weigh up the social value of government contracts, which counts for 10% of the decision. Under new measures this will be increased to 20%, but instead of considering social good, government buyers will be pushed to secure contracts with companies creating local jobs that pay above the minimum wage, offer training, work experience or plug local skills gaps.<\/p>\n
Contracts worth less than \u00a31m will be exempt from the requirement, which ministers hope will make it easier for smaller companies to compete.<\/p>\n
The plans were criticised by environmental and green campaign groups, which said that job creation should not be a trade-off with protecting the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cProtecting the environment and helping young people into good work are mutually beneficial and one shouldn\u2019t come at a cost to the other,\u201d said Greenpeace UK\u2019s head of politics, Ami McCarthy. \u201cCompanies should be held to account with environmental targets to help achieve a better future without leaving young workers behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends of the Earth\u2019s head of campaigns, Rosie Downes, said: \u201cEncouraging companies to create good local jobs is crucial, but it shouldn\u2019t be an either\/or with efforts to safeguard our environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunities are already paying the price of environmental inaction, with the UK on course for record levels of heat-related deaths this summer and our natural world in sharp decline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Williams, the director of strategic partnerships at Green Alliance, said: \u201cThe UK is facing a growing youth unemployment crisis, so businesses should be encouraged to create good jobs and opportunities for young people. But scrapping requirements on climate and sustainability is simply not the answer. It\u2019s not an either\/or choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The move is also likely to spark concern among anti-trafficking and equality campaigners. A Labour<\/a> source said the government knew it would face criticism for scrapping some of the current social value indicators.<\/p>\n\u201cWhat companies have to do at the moment feels too much like a box-ticking exercise and it\u2019s just red tape instead of being useful,\u201d they said. \u201cWe are trying to make sure that the government pound is being used to invest in companies that want to invest directly in young people in their areas, and it brings real results and doesn\u2019t just look good on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suppliers will be assessed on their commitment to backing British jobs and developing skills, and specifically targeting support for young Neets, care leavers and people with long-term health conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ministers will scrap the requirement for companies to prove their green and progressive values before they are awarded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-727702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}