A full transcript of the speech can be found on the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/fire-ministers-speech-to-reform.
In his speech the Minister talks about a basket of goods exercise that was undertaken in 2016 and the wide variation of prices paid for similar equipment (details of which can be found within the following link) – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-and-rescue-authority-procurement-data)
The Minister went on to say;
“I’m pleased from what I have seen over the past few months that the sector has started to respond to these findings and to make changes to procurement practices as a result – through the Chief Fire Officers’ Association’s new commercial strategy.
But I want every service to be involved in this. It is in everybody’s interest for the sector to be getting the best deal they can. I want every service to be taking a long hard look at their procurement practices and questioning whether they could be much more strategic. And I challenge the sector to give me a quantifiable ambition as to what savings are possible”.
I want to see services working together and getting a better deal from suppliers in order to save themselves time and the taxpayer money. It makes no sense at all for fire and rescue authorities to be buying separately when there are so many benefits to be gained from buying together.