This meeting was scheduled to include the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting, which took place on 12 September 2024, and an update on the performance of the STAR Procurement Shared Service in the second quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. The rest of the meeting was due to be taken in private.

The publicly available information about this meeting includes details about the performance of the STAR Procurement Shared Service against its key performance indicators in a report titled Performance Management Q2.

STAR Procurement Shared Service Performance

This report provided an update on the second quarter performance of the STAR Procurement Shared Service. The report included targets for the year and actual performance in Quarter 1 and Quarter 2.

Social Value Update

A report titled Social Value Update was provided to the committee for information, discussion, and approval. This report explains that the council uses the Social Value Act 2012, Procurement Policy Note 06/20, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and The Labour Party’s mission-driven government plan when making decisions about Social Value. The report confirms that the council uses the National Themes Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) framework and the Social Value Portal (SVP).

The report says that STAR had created a Community Impact Fund, achieving £36k of funds ringfenced to community initiatives.

The report discusses the fact that the National Procurement Policy Statement, NPPS was launched in June 2021 and has very recently been temporarily withdrawn, whilst being reviewed under the new Labour government.¹

The new Procurement Act is set to go live February 2025, this will further support the wider social value and is set to change the key principle of Most Economical Advantageous Tender, MEAT, to Most Advantageous Tender, MAT.

The report explains that STAR are working with Stockport Council to pilot questions about Carbon Reduction Plans on tenders, following the publication of PPN 26/01, which relates to carbon reduction plans in procurement.

Procurement Act 2023 Update

A report titled Procurement Act 2023 Update was prepared for the committee. The report states that the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023 has been delayed until 24 February 2025, and that the delay was announced in September 2024.

STAR Business Plan 2025-28

The Committee was asked to decide on the approval of the new STAR Business Plan 2025-28, which had been considered by the committee at its previous meeting. The Business plan contains the following vision statement:

Be a market leading procurement service that supports our Partners and customers to maximise outcomes for our people, places, and planet.

The report contains an executive summary which says:

Our STARBusiness Plan serves as the foundation for meeting our partners' needs and exceeding expectations. It guides us in setting milestones and measuring our achievements, fullyintegrating into our strategic planning,delivery methods, category strategies, and individual performance evaluations. Every team member plays a vital role in shaping and delivering to our Business Plan, collectively sharing the responsibility for its success.

It is not clear whether this refers to the current business plan, which runs from 2021-2024 or the new business plan, which was being considered for approval by the committee.