Local authorities should make use of new procurement laws to promote community prosperity, a think-tank has argued.

A new report by Localis calls on councils to make use of the new Procurement Act, which comes into effect in February, to make better use of their collective annual £72bn spend on goods and services

The act stresses the importance of the ‘most advantageous tender' to unlock a wider concept of value for money that involves social prosperity and inclusive growth.

Localis urged councils to consider a ‘local service reshoring model', in which smaller authorities would hand over administrative responsibilities to arm's-length delivery bodies and outsource delivery to local agencies.

It also advised councils to consider working together to set up or make use of existing delivery vehicles for strategically assessing and controlling public contracts.

Report author Callin McLinden said: ‘The Procurement Act is set to reinvigorate an admittedly dense but promising legislative framework for procurement and local service contracts, carving out greater strategic potential for the buying process to deliver socially prosperous and publicly valuable outcomes – whether services are insourced, outsourced, or innovatively hybridised.

‘However, whatever the ambitious approach or model taken, a lack of accountability, capacity gaps, and unfamiliarity with overtly complex legislation have stood in the way of and will continue to frustrate any efforts to "take back control" of public services.

‘This is why the Government and local authorities must be equally mindful and mutually assured in transitioning towards a more strategic and socially prosperous use of public contracts.'

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