Procurement and the council

We adopted the principles of the Modern Slavery Charter in 2018.  We expect all companies who secure contracts with the Council to comply with this charter. The principles of the Charter are set out below

Council commitments

• Train our Procurement team to understand modern slavery through the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) online course on Ethical Procurement and Supply
• Challenge any abnormally low-cost tenders to ensure they do not rely upon the potential contractor practising modern slavery
• Publicise our whistle-blowing policy for staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery
• Review contractual spending regularly to identify any potential issues with modern slavery
• Highlight for suppliers any risks identified concerning modern slavery and refer them to the relevant agencies to be addressed
• Highlight to suppliers that contracted workers are free to join a trade union and are not to be treated unfairly for belonging to one
• Refer for investigation via the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism any contractors identified as a cause for concern regarding modern slavery
• Report publicly on the implementation of this policy annually

Contractor commitments

• Contractors are required to comply fully with the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015 wherever they apply, with contract termination as a potential sanction of non-compliance
• Contractors are encouraged to adopt a whistle-blowing policy which enables their staff to blow the whistle on any suspected examples of modern slavery