North Lanarkshire Council should buy more goods and services from local firms to deliver a £9m annual boost to the local economy, according to the Federation of Small Businesses.
Launching their manifesto for May’s local authority elections, FSB calls for NLC to set ambitious targets to increase procurement spending with local firms by two per cent annually.
This would result in the council spending around £9m more each year with local businesses as the council spends approximately £450m annually to purchase goods and services.
Andy Aird, FSB’s Scotland chairman, told Lanarkshire Live : “Businesses and the council in North Lanarkshire have a shared interest in local economic recovery. Working together, they can be huge drivers of change in their communities.
“That’s why we’re urging parties and candidates at this year’s elections to get behind the great smaller firms on their doorsteps.
“Modest procurement spending targets could deliver massive compound benefits. With the council facing its own budget pressures, this move would squeeze additional value from taxpayers’ cash.”
The manifesto, called The Power of Local , also urges NLC to continue its support for new businesses with a focus on boosting start-ups led by under-represented groups, including women and migrants.
It highlights successes made by the Lanarkshire Women in Business programme which is led by North and South Lanarkshire Councils and supported by FSB.
A study FSB conducted with Women’s Enterprise Scotland also shows that women-owned businesses created almost 80,000 jobs between 2012 and 2015.
However, just one in five businesses in Scotland are majority-owned by women, and women continue to start-up in business at a lower rate than men.
Statistics show that immigrant-led small and medium-sized businesses contribute £13bn a year to the Scottish economy.
But FSB research found that this group of entrepreneurs were likely to be unaware of state-funded sources of enterprise support and business advice.
Andy added: “The pandemic forced many businesses in North Lanarkshire to shut up shop for good.
"Our research shows that while migrant and female entrepreneurs are increasingly important to our local economy, too few tap into state-funded support.
“If we’re serious about rebuilding our local business community, then we need to make sure that every budding entrepreneur is given the best chance to succeed.
"That’s why we’re urging the council to continue to fund support for new-start businesses, adapting the help on offer to make it work for everyone.”
As of March 2021, there were 7505 small businesses operating in North Lanarkshire, providing an estimated 31,050 jobs and contributing £3.5bn to the local economy.
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