Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
The Cabinet Office has launched new plans to overhaul procurement rules, cutting red tape and making it easier for smaller businesses to win government contracts.
Every year, the government buys some £292 billion of services from the private sector. The latest measures will transform the current procurement regime to put value for money at the heart of the new approach, by allowing more flexibility for buyers, enabling government to be more strategic and save the taxpayer money. This will also drive increased competition through much simpler procurement procedures.
The government says that the changes will make UK procurement rules more modern, flexible, innovative and diverse, by allowing government to consider wider social value when picking suppliers, in turn ensuring that taxpayers money goes further and has more of a wider benefit for society.
The government will also allow the public sector to buy British for contracts not subject to international trade rules, by allowing competitions for government contracts under £4.7 million for public works and £122,000 for goods and services to be limited to small businesses, voluntary, community and social enterprises, or to a certain geographical area. These new rules will support SMEs by opening up new opportunities to them and making it easier for them to win contracts, in turn helping to drive local growth, promote innovation, support local recruitment and level up communities across the UK.
Cabinet Office Minister Lord Agnew said: “The measures outlined today will transform the current outdated system with new rules, providing flexibility to the public sector and less burden on business. These long standing plans have been developed with international procurement specialists and will help unleash innovation across the country and provide a fairer system for small businesses.”
Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
A new study from Uswitch has revealed that the UK is the second-highest contributor to E-waste in the world, behind only Norway, generating 36,681 tonnes of household waste electrical and electronic equipment in 2021 – a 15% increase compared to 2020
That works out at roughly 23.9Kg of E-wasted generated per capita.
Inventory Management Europe – a brief history in space and time
IME – founded with the sole purpose of reducing E-waste by extending the life of IT equipment in the circular economy.
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) is the professional body that exists to advance and promote the art, science, and practice of building services engineering, to invest in education and research, and to support our community of built environment professionals in the pursuit of excellence.
Beehive is an award-winning customer experience and insight agency that helps executive decision
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