Public sector assets draining out of Derry

“Shocking” statistics have been revealed regarding how few services are procured within the city and district by three of its biggest public sector organisations, Translink, Derry City and Strabane District Council, and North West Regional College.

The figures were obtained through freedom of information requests (FOIs) submitted by Derry City and Strabane District councillor, Emmet Doyle (Aontú).

Speaking to Derry Now, Cllr Doyle explained he had sought the information as a basis on which to progress community wealth building locally.  

He added: “In terms of service procurement for Derry, Translink did not spend one penny of its assets within Derry. 

“Derry City and Strabane District Council procured 100 million pounds worth of services in the city and district in 2018. Of that, 75 million pounds left this jurisdiction, meaning Council spent only 25 million pounds of its assets in our Council area.

“Similarly, North West Regional College (NWRC) spent 27% of its assets in Derry on services within the Foyle constituency in 2018. The rest (73%) also left the area. In 2016 / 2017, NWRC spent 15% of its assets on services here, with 85% leaving the area.

“Collectively, I find these figures relating to the amount of money lost to our area in terms of service procurement absolutely shocking. It is a situation, Aontú is endeavouring to rectify through the community wealth building Preston Model. As far as humanly possible, we want to see the money spent on service procurement for Derry to stay in Derry, supporting local jobs and businesses,” said Cllr Doyle.

Cllr Doyle had previously had a motion unanimously passed in Council relating to the eponymous Preston Model, through which Preston Council in Lancashire in England had progressed the idea of community wealth building.

He explained: “Preston Council essentially worked hard to keep as much of the money spent by public sector bodies there, within the city.”

The Ballyarnett councillor’s motion to Council stated: “That this Council, in seeking to provide value for all of our communities, recognises that creating wealth in and for our constituents at a community level can create long term solutions to issues such as poverty and deprivation;

“This Council recognises the success of the Preston model of community wealth building in utilising public procurement to sustain investment in local areas; this Council further recognises that section 115 of the Local Government Act (NI) 2014 prohibits embedding social value on a large scale in Council procurement and will:

“Write to the Minister of Finance to seek an update on legislative changes to the Act to allow local government to integrate social value into all tenders;

“Provide a report on Council’s procurement spend in the District awarded to local companies;

“Establish a forum with public sector anchor organisations to determine their procurement processes and spend in the City and District and how these can be maximised to support local companies;

“And will seek a briefing from Preston City Council and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies as to how we can implement a community wealth scheme in this area.

“Will write to the Minister for Communities to understand what support can be offered to Council to deliver the Building Inclusive Communities 5-year strategic priority of 'grow and scale Community Wealth Building to support economic recovery'.

“Invite Social Enterprise NI to Council to present how we can get more Social Enterprises winning Public Sector and Local Council contracts.”

Cllr Doyle said he was having a meeting with Preston City Council in the near future to discuss the model further.

“It is vital we progress this work within Derry City and Strabane District Council,” he added. “In terms of service procurement by Council, Derry receives only 16 million pounds out of a total of 100 million pounds.

“Strabane receives 2.36 million pounds, Eglinton 1.7 million pounds, and Castlederg 4.74 million pounds. All the rest goes out of the district.

“Through community wealth building, we are going to try and bring as much of that money as possible back in. Preston brought tens of millions of pounds back in from public sector procurement. 

“Under new guidance from the Department of Finance, it is possible to include social clauses in contracts. Council can now stipulate if a company is tendering for business in Derry, maybe on a new building, it has to take on 10 new apprentices.”