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Champions of ethical trade from companies, health bodies, trade unions and public sector organisations have called on the government to play a much stronger role in driving ethical purchasing across the public sector.
At a staggering £125 bn, public spending on goods and services - anything from catering and cleaning services to police truncheons and nurses uniforms - dwarfs that of the private sector. Yet many of the people who produce those goods and services toil for long hours in dangerous conditions, for poverty wages. For example, thousands of children in Pakistan are known to be involved in making surgical instruments destined for the UK.
At a workshop on 8 December on ethical public procurement hosted by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), Dr. Mahmood Bhutta of the British Medical Association, who has campaigned for ethical purchasing to be adopted across the National Health Service, said:
"Many of the people in my profession - including doctors, purchasing managers and medical directors - could be potential advocates for change. But a lot of them aren't aware of what ethical trade is. They're also very, very busy people. While a lot can be done by organisations like ETI and others to train people up and raise their awareness, we need leadership from the top.
"It seems counter-intuitive that the government states its support for ethical purchasing, but then, so far, has done very little such purchasing with public money. It's time the government caught up with the private sector."
Beverly Hall of the public sector union Prospect also shared the union's experience of creating 40 new international development worker representatives, who are now pushing for ethical procurement in their own workplaces.
Said Beverly: "The government has signed up to the Millennium Development Goals. But they're failing to see the opportunity to harness their own purchasing power to contribute to those goals.
"If the government can spend £19bn a year on IT equipment they can jolly well specify in their contracts that workers should be treated in accordance with international labour standards and the Millennium Development Goals".
ETI Deputy Director Martin Cooke, chair of the meeting, said: "Ethical procurement doesn't always have to cost more. In fact, the current drive to create greater efficiencies in public spending may actually create more opportunities for it."
Other speakers included Tim Rudin of the Greater London Authority Group, Ian Watson of Mears Group plc, Sophie Cros of NHS Supply Chains and Frans Papma, sustainable procurement adviser to the Dutch government.
View presentations from the event here
ETI has developed a training course on ethical public procurement, which helps participants develop their knowledge of how ethical trade principles can be applied to public procurement and start to identify the elements of an ethical procurement strategy their own organisation.