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Procurement

We aim to be a leading organisation in the higher education sector for sustainable and ethical procurement. To learn more, read our Sustainable Procurement Strategy.

NETpositive Supplier Engagement Tool

In 2018/19 we signed up to the NETpositive Supplier Engagement Tool. This enables all of our suppliers to develop a NETpositive sustainability action plan in line with our environmental, sustainability and institutional objectives.

The tool allows us to support all of our suppliers to go beyond a surface-level commitment to sustainability, as the bespoke action plan can be monitored and measured. We can then analyse the data generated by this process. This helps to plan our supplier engagement activities, gather evidence on good practice and use the action plan to provide a clear and measurable focus for contract management discussions.

Our ongoing commitment to responsible procurement practices are outlined in our:
Procurement suppliers fair

Other initiatives and deliverables

Our work on other intitiatives has resulted in the following:
  • We moved to 100% post-consumer recycled paper.
  • The retender for graduation certificates included the incorporation of minimal packaging and all paper-based products to be FSC certified.
  • The latest catering tender included all objectives and targets outlined in our Sustainable Food Strategy.
  • Faculty uniforms were retendered with consideration for modern slavery and ethical sourcing due to the identification as a high-risk supply chain.
  • We are a member of Electronics Watch through the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium (SUPC). Electronics Watch guides public procurement demand for decent working conditions in electronics supply chains.