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Local government procurement decisions in England amount to approximately £40bn per year. Over 40% of all expenditure by local authorities in England is on procuring goods and services through contracts.

The National Procurement Strategy and the local government efficiency agenda have given greater impetus to the delivery of effective and innovative procurement practices, with councils leading the sector in delivering the efficiencies laid out by Gershon in 2004. However, whilst local government has a good history of successfully meeting efficiency targets, the Chancellor and central government have made clear their intention to set a much more ambitious challenge over the next few years.

Regional Centres of Excellence have researched regionally, creating a national picture of local authority spending and price benchmarking, which has revealed huge variations in the amounts that councils are being charged for the same items, up to 2,000% in some cases. Whilst variations of this magnitude are rare, significant variations are common nationwide.

To discuss the specific procurement challenges faced by local authorities in the light of such discrepancies, and to encourage a broader perspective on the potential savings to be had from improved procurement policy, Public Service Events is pleased to present Local Government Procurement 07 - Look National, Save Local, to take place at the Barbican, London, on 6^th June. Bringing together some of the senior figures involved in public sector procurement, along with a selected range of influential private sector representatives, the conference will:

• Showcase the latest views and policy decisions of a range of senior officials
• Take an in-depth view on the latest policy guidance, offering support and clarification to procurement officials
• Offer local authority delegates an opportunity to network and share procurement strategies and advice
• Provide a link between local authority staff and private sector solution providers

Latest statistics show that growing numbers of councils are working with their Regional Centre of Excellence to improve their procurement performance. Although the trend is going in the right direction, it is clear that much work still has to be done to make sure that the entire local government sector operates its procurement operations with the maximum efficiency. With potential savings reaching the billions, pursuing such improvement is immensely worthwhile, and Local Government Procurement 07 - Look National, Save Local, will provide each delegate with perspectives and contacts to further enhance their respective procurement functions.