We will promote and deliver social and economic value through effective procurement and contract management practices. Wherever possible, we will continue to spend our money locally to support local businesses and organisations.
Local Government Benchmarking data has shown for several years that Shetland performs very well when compared to other Councils spend on local goods and services. During 2022-23, 45.7% of the Council’s procurement was spent on local enterprises in Shetland, which was well above the Scottish average of 29.6% and above our seven comparator Councils (av. 35.6%). The figure reflects the effort that’s been invested to engage with local businesses, encouraging them to register on the Public Contracts Scotland web portal which the Council uses for various contract opportunities.
A new Procurement Strategy and a more user-friendly set of Contract Standing Orders were formally adopted in September 2023, delivering on a number of the actions following recommendations from our internal auditors.
72% of Shetland respondents in the latest Scottish Household survey agreed with the statement, ‘My local Council provides high quality services’. This put Shetland top in Scotland.
