Partners in Procurement (Help for business)
Help with Pre-Qualification
The Public Sector has a duty to make sure that monies spent on
goods, services and works are spent in accordance with Best Value
principles. These organisations have to carry out fundamental
checks on Companies it does business with to make sure that they
are suitably qualified according to the type of work or supply and
the contract value.
The Partners in Procurement Group are considering a common core
pre-qualification document for contracts so that businesses,
particularly SMEs, do not have to put together different
information in different formats to get past the expression of
interest stage.
The levels of information currently required will generally
include;
- Company details and trading address
- Contact, date of formation and registration
details, number of employees
- Details of Health and Safety Officer and whether a
policy exists
- Details of Equal Opportunities and whether a policy
exists
- Financial information
- Details of Insurances, Quality Assurance and
Environmental policy
- References
If you want to trade with the Public Sector but do not currently
have the necessary policies in place further details can be found
as follows.
Equal Opportunities
Having an Equal Opportunities policy will demonstrate that you
and your employees are not being discriminatory in terms of the
anti-discrimination legislation (the Sex Discrimination Act 1975,
the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995
and the Regulations outlawing discrimination on grounds of Sexual
Orientation and Religion and Belief, which came into force in
December 2003). This legislation protects individuals against
discrimination in employment, which includes the process of
selecting applicants for jobs. New legislation, banning
discrimination on grounds of age, has been introduced with effect
from October 2006.
Further information can be found on the Equal
Opportunities Commission webpages. Available on this page and
of particuar interest is the guide for small businesses 'Equal
Opportunities is Your Business Too.'
A sample of a simple Equalities Policy is available
below.
Equal Opportunities Statement
The company is an equal opportunities employer and will
therefore promote equality of opportunity in the recruitment,
promotion, appraisal, training and development of its staff and
otherwise treat them on the basis of their relative merits and
abilities. The law requires that no applicant; member of
staff or customer will receive less favourable treatment on the
grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins,
sex or marital status. Where the law does not prescribe,
every effort will be made to avoid discrimination on grounds of
disability, religion, political belief, socio-economic background,
parental status, age (subject to normal retirement conventions) and
sexual orientation.
Equal Opportunity Policy
1. We are an equal opportunity
employer and follow the recommendations of the Race Relations Code
of Practice. We will not tolerate racial discrimination and
aim to ensure that no job applicant, employee, trainee or customer
is treated unfairly on the grounds of their race, colour,
nationality, ethnic origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation,
age or religion; having regard to the individual’s aptitudes and
abilities and the requirements of the job.
2. We will take disciplinary
action where there is evidence of racial discrimination, abuse or
harassment.
3. We will appoint a Senior
Manager, (Name) …………………………………. (Job Title)……………………………… to be
responsible for implementing equality of opportunity policies.
4. We will communicate clearly to
all staff the Equal Opportunities Statement, with relevant
disciplinary and grievance procedures and the name and role of the
Senior Manager responsible.
5. We will monitor all
allegations, which include a racial element, to double check that
they have been responded to adequately and fairly and according to
policy.
6. We will monitor recruitment;
work allocation, discipline and dismissal procedures to identify
any racially uneven statistical patterns that require further
investigation.
7. We will ensure all Managers and
staff are aware of their responsibilities under the Race Relations
Act 1976, Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the company’s
Equal Opportunities Policy.
Signed ……………………………………………………………………………………..
Position in Company ……………………………………………………………………..
For and on behalf of ……………………………………………………………………...
Date ………………………………………………………………………………………..
Environmental
An Environmental Policy is a written statement outlining an
organisation's mission in relation to managing the environmental
effects and aspects of its operations.
NetRegs www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/
provides free environmental guidance for small businesses in the UK
including information on what you need to do to comply with
environmental legislation and protect the environment.
Information on how to write an Environmental Policy can be found
at the Envirowise
website
Health and Safety
If you have five or more employees, the Health and Safety policy
must be in writing, and you must bring it to the attention of your
employees. Even if you have fewer employees, it is good
practice to have a written policy.
The Health and Safety Executive can provide help and advice for
Businesses and there are a number of relevant free leaflets
available on the Health
and Safety Executive website
In particular the leaflet 'An introduction to health
and safety' which includes two ready-made self-assessment forms for
a risk assessment and a health and safety policy.
Please see the following table for Useful Public Sector
Web Links
