Equality in Procurement
Introduction
Carlisle City Council strongly supports equal opportunities,
equal access and positive outcomes for all sections of the
community. There are two fundamental reasons for this:
- The Council has a legal responsibility to ensure that the
standards it has internally are supported by organisations which
carry out work for the Council, and
- It makes sure that the services the Council provides meet the
diverse needs of the citizens it serves.
The Council has its own policy on equality which, is in place to
ensure consideration is made to equality issues in the wider
community by all of the Council’s employees.
Download the Councils Comprehensive Equality
Scheme in PDF format below.
The Council recognises its responsibility as a major procurer of
goods and services in the Cumbrian area, and to ensure that the
suppliers and contractors with which it conducts business do not
operate in a way that contradicts legislation or the Council’s
policy on equality.
Current Legislation Relating to Procurement
Current UK legislation states that local authorities must
consider equal opportunities in their contracts. The Council
therefore needs its suppliers to have, or introduce, an equal
opportunities policy and procedure.
Procurement activity is one way in which the Council can promote
and enforce its equality objectives by ensuring that suppliers,
contractors and their agents provide goods, supplies and services
that do not discriminate against people in any way. In this way the
Council can attempt to eliminate unlawful discrimination, and
promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people
of different groups through good procurement practice.
It is also important to ensure that prospective suppliers meet
the Council’s equality requirements, that they can demonstrate that
they understand their responsibilities, and that they operate in
accordance with equality legislation. This information can be
obtained from prospective suppliers by the means of a
pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or as part of the tender
documentation.
Further
Information
For information or assistance with the appropriate equality
legislation please contact the Corporate Procurement Team on
01228 817553.
For further equality information
please visit:
• Equality and Human Rights Commission Homepage www.drc-gb.org (external
link)