Following the report issued today from DEFRA, The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) has issued its response to the findings.
Roy Ayliffe, Director of Professional Practice said: "CIPS welcomes this response and is pleased to see that the government recognise that effective and responsible procurement is a powerful tool to energise and deliver change for the better.
Having been part of the Sustainable Procurement Task Force, CIPS is concerned that the Action Plan currently focuses only on environmental issues and is at risk of ignoring the social and economic recommendations as made in the Task Force Report. We will expect the future policy framework to address this fully. Sustainable procurement is not simply about reducing carbon footprints and emissions. To carry out any mandate on sustainability it's crucial that Procurement professionals are clear what their priority is - this must be directed from the leadership and be guided on how to balance the myriad of priorities they are asked to achieve.
There is still a great deal of work to do to imbed sustainable procurement across the public sector. This will not only need clear direction and leadership but a significant amount of education and skills development. As the spotlight is on the right issue, CIPS will feature sustainability heavily in the Public Sector Faculty service as agreed with the OGC/GPS."