Local Government (Exclusion of Non-commercial Considerations) (England) Order 2026

Debate between Lord Shipley and Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Grand Committee

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, I will intervene briefly. First, I declare a long-gone interest: I was a county councillor many years ago. I always believed, as did my local authority, that, whatever one did in terms of procurement, the overall aim and need was to obtain best value for money in any contracts of any size, so I have slightly mixed views about this order. On the one hand, as the Minister said, it is very important that we support our native suppliers and contractors as far as is possible when it comes to work, particularly below the threshold. I would like the Minister to clarify that low threshold when she responds.

However, it seems that there are one or two questions here. First, this order would give a local authority the ability to determine a defined local area. Is that within the particular boundaries of the local authority? I see that there is provision here for that to include bordering authorities. Bearing in mind the nature of unitary local government nowadays, that would be an enormously large area. Does this mean either that you can choose to have a very small defined area, such as a particular town or village that contains certain traders who may be able to be part of the procurement, or, more generally, that it would be a wide area? Does the advertisement that will be placed, which is required, have to give reasons why a defined area has been chosen?

My only worry there, in looking back at the history of local government, is that a selection procedure that aims at a defined area within a local authority surely could—I am not saying that it would, but it could—be used politically in certain circumstances: for example, in a political operation where a number of procurements were made available in certain parts of a local authority area that happened to have a particular political complexion. There does not appear to be much of a safeguard against that here, so I would like some reassurance from the Minister on this point.

I mentioned the advertisement. I would like to know a little more from the Minister about the nature of that advertisement, as well as the reasoning that there has to be in it for doing what the local authority has chosen to do. The Minister is right when she talks about boycotts regarding countries; that is a very difficult area indeed. Again, we must be very careful that there is no indication here of a boycott, in the hands of politicians, against a particular country—or, indeed, to come back to the low-threshold procurements, of a boycott against particular individuals, firms or people who are being ruled against, either because they have different political views or because they have some other discriminatory situation with which they might not comply.

I am sorry to raise these few doubts in my mind. Although I see the intention here as very positive, I want to be absolutely sure that, in its delivery, it will not only maintain support for local contractors and local services but continue on the basis with which I started: providing council tax payers with the best value for money.

[Lord Shipley (LD)]

My Lords, I am grateful for this statutory instrument, which I support and which will be hugely helpful for local taxpayers in the generation of local jobs. I note the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate; I look forward to the Minister’s response to all the points made by the noble Lord. I would say just two things. First, we are talking here about procurement contracts below the threshold. Secondly, I believe that best value can include the generation of local jobs as a consequence of that procurement process; there has to be an allowance for that.

I want to ask one specific question of the Minister, which I hope can be replied to now. It touches on a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate: the definition of local area. I have not understood it; nor have I understood why there is reference in the Explanatory Notes to the consultation that took place in relation to combined authorities. My immediate reaction when I read this statutory instrument was that I did not understand how combined authorities fitted into this structure. It is quite difficult to see how that would work.

In particular, in Article 3(5)(a), the local area is defined very clearly. It is stated that,

“where there is one relevant authority”—

let us say one council—

“which intends to enter into a relevant contract … the area of that authority”

is the whole of the area of that authority. My understanding of this is that a council cannot subdivide its area; it has to be within its whole area. However, it can also be “the area specified” as

“the area of that authority, or … any of the areas of the counties or London boroughs that border that area”.

I have not understood why the counties and London boroughs are pulled out in this order as being a special case when the metropolitan districts are not in the old metropolitan counties—from my perspective, in the north-east of England, West Yorkshire or South Yorkshire. If one council decides to enter a procurement process, is it forbidden to define its local area as a neighbouring authority or part of one?

For the sake of choosing a random example, if Bradford Council decided that it wished to procure as a single authority, would it be able to run the process including a neighbourhood area such as Calderdale, Kirklees or Leeds? I have not understood this; nor have I understood why this issue is not addressed in the context of the Bill on English devolution that is going through, where this issue is not mentioned at all. Procurement does not appear in that Bill. It seems to me that there is a need for clarity on why the combined authorities are excluded and why the London boroughs have become a special case. All metropolitan areas should be a special case.

Beyond that, I am happy for the Minister to write in reply, if this is seen as at all complicated, but we need absolute clarity here now; otherwise, when people start to implement the order, there is going to be confusion about what they are allowed to do. Otherwise, I am in favour of this order.