Preston City Council leads Making Spend Matter Network

The Network ‘Making Spend Matter’, led by Preston City Council, has been approved for its phase 2 on the 4th December 2018 and will be funded for a period of two years to explore how spend analysis can be used as an evidence base to improve public procurement and deliver wider benefits to people and places.

Making Spend Matter is an URBACT Transfer Network, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. It builds on the Good Practice City label Preston received in 2017 for its work with local anchor institutions around public procurement. Together with our anchor institutions we analysed our procurement spend to understand how procurement money was spent geographically, by sector and by type of businesses. Using the results of the analysis, we looked at what we could change to bring about wider benefits to our place, communities and local economy. This work around spend analysis and public procurement is one of the areas of work for Preston City Council in the wider Community Wealth Building initiative.

With Making Spend Matter, we will share our experience and knowledge with other cities interested in this initiative to help them start their own journey. The Network brings together Preston, as Good Practice City, as well as 6 Transfer Cities, Pamplona, Vila Nova de Famalicão, Koszalin, Kavala, Bistriţa and Schaerbeek. Over the next two years, the network will explore how cities can better analyse their spend data, engage with their supplier base, increase cooperation with local stakeholders and develop procurement recommendations for their local authorities and public institutions. The aim behind these activities is to give each city the tools it needs to deliver more social, economic and environmental benefits for people and places through public procurement.

Councillor Matthew Brown Leader of Preston City Council said;

“This is excellent news for Preston and our procurement team, building on the work we currently do with our anchor institutions and partners. Implementing the principles of Community Wealth building we currently do within Preston and the wider Lancashire area we can now share with institutes across Europe. ”

• Making Spend Matter is a Transfer Network of 7 European cities, funded through the URBACT III Programme and the European Regional Development Fund, exploring how spend analysis can be used as an evidence base to improve public procurement and deliver wider benefits to communities and places.
• URBACT Transfer Networks support cities with the transfer of good practice so as to improve the implementation of integrated sustainable urban strategies/action plan. The expected outcomes of these networks are transferred good practice in receiving cities, enhanced good practice, learning and recommendations for EU cities.
• The Network brings together 6 Transfer Cities; Pamplona (Spain), Vila Nova de Famalicão (Portugal), Koszalin (Poland), Kavala (Greece), Bistriţa (Romania), Schaerbeek (Belgium) and Preston (United Kingdom), leading the project as Good Practice City.
• URBACT is a European exchange and learning programme promoting sustainable urban development. The programme enables cities to work together to develop solutions to major urban challenges, reaffirming the key role they play in facing increasingly complex societal changes
• The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances between its regions.

• For further information about Making Spend Matter see:
– www.preston.gov.uk/thecouncil/the-preston-model/international-work/making-spend-matter/
– urbact.eu/making-spend-matter
• For further information about click URBACT
• For more information about URBACT  Good Practice Cities
• For further information about community wealth building
• This project will not be affected by any outcome of Brexit.