STAR is growing!

Two Merseyside Councils have made the decision to join Tameside, Rochdale, Stockport, and Trafford Council’s in becoming partners in the public sector shared procurement service, STAR Procurement.

St Helens and Knowsley Councils are the latest to sign up to STAR which has saved nearly £50 million of taxpayer’s money when procuring a wide range of supplies and services for its Councils since its establishment in 2014. Driving wider social, economic and environmental benefits, known as Social Value, through procurement has also been very successful within STAR with over £230m of these benefits secured over the last few years. 

STAR offers key benefits for all partners:

• Economies of scale and savings through greater collaboration
• A high performing procurement service
• Strategic leadership and support
• A promise to drive social value and local spend
• Better recruitment and retention through ‘Grow Your Own’ policy, dedicated training and investment in staff

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.”