Race equality and procurement: an investigation into the impact of race equality policy on the procurement of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) contractors and consultants in the Welsh social housing sector

Abstract

In 2002, the Welsh Assembly Government published its Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Housing Action Plan for Wales. This required social landlords in Wales to develop policies, practices and procedures which took into account the needs of BME people. This plan also stated that they should promote race equality within the procurement process by increasing their use of BME contractors and consultants and by ensuring that the contractors and consultants they engaged were operating within a race equality framework. The aim of this research was to investigate the factors affecting race equality and procurement in the social housing sector in Wales. This involved collecting data from social landlords, main contractors and consultants and BME contractors and consultants. This research discusses the data collected from 39 social landlords in Wales (12 of the 22 local authorities and 27 of the 30 major housing associations). Data were collected relating to their procurement practices and procedures. The research found that few social landlords in Wales were actively addressing the issue of race equality within the procurement process and that much is needed to be done by social landlords in Wales to ensure race equality throughout the procurement process.

Keywords:

• BME
• construction industry
• equality
• procurement and social housing

Notes

1. Construction Line is a UK register of local and national pre‐qualified construction and construction‐related services. It supplies public and private sector procurers with a single national pre‐qualification scheme. www.constructionline.co.uk.

2. The Egan Report (1998) described partnering as a process that involves two or more organizations working together to improve performance through agreeing mutual objectives, devising a way for resolving any disputes and committing themselves to continuous improvement, measuring progress and sharing the gains.

3. The term ‘main contractor’ refers to those construction organizations either currently engaged or featured on the approved lists of social landlords in Wales who are not BME owned or led.

4. In most cases this meant a list containing contractors and consultants who had already done some work for the organization and/or had gone through a series of pre‐qualification checks such as financial checks.

5. Sell2Wales is an initiative from the Welsh Assembly Government that aims to help small and medium companies work successfully with public sector clients: www.sell2wales.co.uk.