Under the Conservative/Independent coalition, focusing on keeping the Stoke-on-Trent £ in Stoke has been a big priority. Residents are often not aware of the amount of money the City Council spends every year, not just on the obvious things such as stationery or catering, but also on bigger items, specialist services and support.
In 2017/18, Stoke-on-Trent City Council awarded £121m of work, of which £66m went to local businesses based in the city, with a further £4.1m going to businesses based in the surrounding areas of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire Moorlands and Stafford Borough.
This focus on keeping money local helps to support the growing economy, keeping jobs in the city and wider area, and often helping those businesses to secure further work through developing their own experience on public sector projects.
More details here in the Sentinel.
We have recently updated our policies to support this, and I’m keen to see the figure increase going forward.