New social value procurement policy announced

Stormont's finance minister has announced a new policy for public procurement contracts that puts an emphasis on social value.

Every year the executive spends £3bn buying goods, services and construction from the private and third sectors.

Tenders are scored on the basis of cost and quality, but from next June, they must include a minimum of 10% of total award criteria to social value.

The living wage will also be included as a condition of contract for tenders.

It will apply to service contracts above £123,000 and construction contracts above £4.7m.

These account for approximately 97% of total government procurement spend.

The living wage is a recommended rate (£9.50 per hour) different to the national living wage (£8.91 per hour) for over-23s.

Conor Murphy says the policy would see the executive spend money for the common good

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said the new policy will help create jobs in deprived areas and deliver environmental benefits by requiring contracts to employ low or zero carbon practices.

"It sees social value placed at the very heart of public procurement, setting new standards that rewards companies for doing the right thing while ensuring the executive uses its spending power for the common good," he added.

The minimum weighting will increase to 20% from June 2023 subject to executive approval.