How to Save £1 Billion
Posted 9th February 2017
The Department for Education has issued further support to schools and academies to increase the value for money delivered – giving support to save £1 billion a year.
We would urge all schools and academies (both staff and governors) to take note of the support as they deal with the challenge of smaller budgets.School’s Buying Strategy
The Department for Education (DfE) has announced the schools’ buying strategy, no doubt in response to criticism from the National Audit Office (see our earlier blog). The Department states that it aims ‘to support schools to save over £1 billion a year by 2019-20 on their non-staff spend. It aims to help all schools improve how they buy goods and services – allowing them to maximise the resources they can invest in high quality education for their pupils and supporting them in managing cost pressures.’The guidance seeks to provide support in three key areas:
- Access to buyers’ networks and help with more complex buying
- Practical help and advice on being a smart consumer
- Access to better deals and making buying easier
The strategy document contains numerous hyperlinks to guidance and support available on GOV.UK, these include:
- Negotiating national deals – current deals can already save schools up to 10% on their energy spend and over 40% on the cost of printers, photocopiers and scanners.
- Piloting regional buying hubs to support local schools with services like catering and cleaning, buying collectively to save cash.
- Working with industry experts to develop a digital platform and tools to enable schools to compare suppliers and get the best price.
