The Buying Social Justice project, which comprises Prof Tessa Wright, Prof Hazel Conley, Dr Joyce Mamode and IER’s Dr Katharina Sarter, launched its toolkit for practitioners on including equality and diversity objectives within public procurement at a well-attended online event on 19 October 2023.

At the event, the project team presented key findings from the two-year research project, which have fed into the guidance and good practice examples in the toolkit.

The findings highlighted six good practice principles identified by the research: collaboration and partnership working; supplier engagement; strategic alignment; consistency; resourcing and senior leadership commitment. They also pointed to a need for further information about how to incorporate equality and diversity considerations into their procurement activities, which the toolkit aims to address.

Emphasising the “golden thread” that should be woven throughout each of the five stages of procurement, Frances McAndrew introduced the toolkit, highlighting its interactive format, which allows users to move easily between the stages of the procurement process and to return to the toolkit at various points in the procurement journey.

Speakers from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the TUC and four of the nine case study organisations involved in the research spoke about good practice in their organisations and highlighted the value of the toolkit. A recording of the session will now available on the project website Buying social justice through procurement.

An equality and diversity toolkit, written by Frances McAndrew of Goss Consultancy in collaboration with the project researchers Professor Tessa Wright, Professor Hazel Conley, Dr Joyce Mamode and Dr E. K. Sarter is available for download from the project website.