Race equality and procurement: an investigation into the impact of race equality policy on the procurement of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) contractors and consultants in the Welsh social housing sector

In 2002, the Welsh Assembly Government published its Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Housing Action Plan for Wales. This required social landlords in Wales to develop policies, practices and procedures which took into account the needs of BME people. This plan also stated that they should promote race equality within the procurement process by increasing their use of BME contractors and consultants and by ensuring that the contractors and consultants they engaged were operating within a race equality framework. The aim of this research was to investigate the factors affecting race equality and procurement in the social housing sector in Wales. This involved collecting data from social landlords, main contractors and consultants and BME contractors and consultants. This research discusses the data collected from 39 social landlords in Wales (12 of the 22 local authorities and 27 of the 30 major housing associations). Data were collected relating to their procurement practices and procedures. The research found that few social landlords in Wales were actively addressing the issue of race equality within the procurement process and that much is needed to be done by social landlords in Wales to ensure race equality throughout the procurement process.