Merseyside councils join STAR Procurement

Two councils in Merseyside have joined public sector shared procurement service, STAR, originally launched by Stockport, Trafford and Rochdale councils in 2014.

St Helens and Knowsley councils will join the shared procurement service, which welcomed Tameside Council in 2018, NHS Trafford CCG in 2019, and NHS Tameside & Glossop CCG in 2020. The service enables partner organisations to benefit from greater economies of scale and savings through their collaboration, as well as committing to improving social value and local spend.

STAR Procurement has helped save nearly £50 million when procuring a wide range of supplies and services for its Councils since first launching. Driving wider social, economic and environmental benefits, known as Social Value, through procurement has also secured over £230 million of these benefits secured over the last few years. 

Cllr Liz Patel, Trafford Council’s Executive Member Economy and Regeneration, said:

“We are delighted to welcome St Helens Council and Knowsley Council to the STAR Procurement service. Through collaboration we have achieved some strong results and we are excited for the future, particularly with two new partners on board. Procurement is all about finding the best ways to boost local economies and asking our suppliers to be socially responsible when they do business with the public sector.”

Lorraine Cox, Director of Procurement at STAR, said she was delighted that the two Merseyside Councils had decided to join STAR.  She said:

“We are really looking forward to working with St Helens and Knowsley Councils. STAR has proved to be successful and highly performing and an approval for growth is now in place for all six Councils to move forward together and to deliver an even bigger impact.

“We will be spending the next few months mobilising and getting ready to ‘go live’ with the six-partner STAR on 1 October. This is a great opportunity to show our two new councils how we can deliver excellent services, secure value for money, drive greater collaboration and create opportunities to businesses and communities within our regions.”