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Northern Echo
Thu 22nd Jan 2009, 10:23am
The campaign to increase public sector spending with companies in the North-East - bringing thousands of jobs to the region and boosting the economy by more than £1bn - was given a tonic yesterday with a landmark agreement to help cut red tape.
The North-East Centre of Excellence yesterday unveiled a new set of documents - the first of its type in the UK - that councils in the region will have to use when purchasing from local businesses. Currently, companies have to fill in a different set of forms for each of the 25 local authorities from which they are bidding to win contracts, and simplifying the system has consistently been highlighted as a priority in enabling the North-East economy to grow.
The move was last night hailed a "victory for common sense" by the region's business community, and also comes as a huge tonic to the Buy North-East campaign, run by The Northern Echo in conjunction with the North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC). Buy North-East was launched to encourage local authorities to embrace the major economic benefits of awarding contracts to businesses in the region.
Research by the NECC revealed that the regional economy would grow by £1.35bn and an extra 6,000 direct jobs would be created, if the public sector spent an additional one per cent each year to 2016 contracting services from within the North-East rather than looking elsewhere.
Andrew Sugden, NECC director of membership and policy, said the region could lead the way nationally in promoting private and public sector partnerships, and praised the North-East Centre for Excellence for seizing the initiative.
"For NECC members, the need to fill in 25 different sets of forms to supply the same goods to the 25 local authorities in the region is a major headache. The simplification of this process to create one agreed questionnaire is an important step forward," he said.
"With the number of North- East authorities more than halving to 12 next year, this is a gilt edged opportunity for the public sector to lead the way nationwide in making it easier for businesses to work with councils."
"This would put our region at the forefront and would drive the North-East economy on to greater heights."