Councillor Hebb began by stating this report had been commissioned by Councillor Aker following a motion at Full Council. He congratulated the hard work put into the report by Sharon Bayliss and Stef Seff as the report was very clear and clinical. He added this report built on previous work about what services were delivered by which providers, as well as the ongoing Council Spending Review. He stated that 84% of services were delivered either by the Local Authority or volunteers based in Thurrock, but even the multi-national companies that were awarded contracts had employees who lived in the borough, which served the local economy. Councillor Hebb added that the Council tried to ensure that each tender had a local bid, and the Council also ran a workshop for local businesses on how to put together a successful procurement bid. He summarised by stating this was an ongoing piece of work, that the Council would revisit when the market or demand levels changed.

Councillor Huelin added that she felt disappointed that when officers had stayed late to present this report to Members, Councillor Aker did not show. She commented that the community workshops on how to place a successful procurement bid were well attended and also showed local businesses how to get the funding they needed. The Leader also added that each tender was different and it was important small businesses knew how to put a bid together. He stated that the Council wanted good value for residents, both in terms of money and social added value and gave the example of the children’s transport contract which utilised many Thurrock businesses.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

1. Reviewed the response to the motion raised by Councillor Aker MEP and agreed that the current and planned actions set out within the report were sufficient.