Agenda item

Report by the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1. Formalise the support of the UK Steel Charter as the successor to the Sustainable British Steel Charter.

2. Approve the updated Ethical Procurement Policy for 2025.

Consideration was given to the report which presented the updated Ethical Procurement Policy, attached at Appendix 1 of the report, for approval. The report also asked Cabinet to formalise the support of the UK Steel Charter as the successor to the Sustainable British Steel Charter.

Ethical behaviour was at the core of the Council’s procurement activity and the Council expected the suppliers it did business with to share similar values and ethical ethos in the way they delivered their services. The Ethical Procurement Policy set out the range of measures and policy decisions / commitments that had been taken by the Council over the years to achieve this and drive ethical practice, with the aim to encompass this into one comprehensive policy. The Policy was first approved in January 2020, with at the time, a recommendation for the Policy to be reviewed on a 3-yearly cycle. Following a review in 2024 the Policy was updated via an officer decision taken on 9 February 2024 at which point it was agreed to review the Policy annually and this report summarises the updates following a review of the Policy in 2025.

Paragraph 2.1 of the report detailed the key changes proposed to the Policy. This included changes to the year and amount of expenditure along with procurement legislation changes. Changes were made to paragraph 4 of the Policy as a result of a review of the commitments/decisions taken. These were set out in paragraph 2.1.3 of the report.

In carrying out the review for 2025, a check was undertaken to confirm the Council’s name appeared on the relevant websites where external commitments had been made. This exercise identified that the Charter for Sustainable British Steel (committed to in October 2015) had been rebranded and relaunched to the UK Steel Charter, and as a result Rotherham Council were no longer listed as a signatory. The aims and objectives of the new UK Steel Charter where set out in paragraph 2.3 of the report.

The UK Steel Charter was promoted by Make UK who had provided a guidance document that set out nine steps that could be undertaken to support the agenda. These were similar to the steps for consideration as part of the original 2015 motion, which reaffirmed the position that this was not a new consideration, and the original intentions still applied. The Council had continued to act in a manner to support the commitment. This action would now see this support formalised with the Council being listed as a signatory to the successor scheme.

The report was considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management

Board (OSMB), who advised that the recommendations be supported.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1. Formalise the support of the UK Steel Charter as the successor to the Sustainable British Steel Charter.

2.    Approve the updated Ethical Procurement Policy for 2025.