HEPA Digest: May 2021

Welcome to the latest HEPA Digest – packed full of useful content – ranging all the way from window blinds to the Queen’s Speech…

Procurement Bill

Yesterday’s Queen’s Speech will have a big impact on higher education; amongst all of the headline announcements perhaps the most interesting for HEPA members is that a new Procurement Bill will be introduced in the next session of Parliament.  This Bill follows on from the transforming public procurement green paper, and is expected to be introduced from September 2021.  Find out more and read the full announcement here.

Procurement Value Survey (PVS) – for members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Many thanks to everybody who submitted their PVS.  81 institutions responded to the survey, reporting a total impactable spend of £6.5bn, with total gross efficiencies of £269m.  You can download the PVS for 2019/20 here.

AML Policy Template

We are pleased to share an Anti Money Laundering (AML) Policy Template which has been developed by WPM Education and kindly made available to the entire sector.  Institutions can incorporate the content into their own style to fit with their own policies and procedures, and feedback is welcomed.  You can download a copy of the AML Policy Template and find out about the other counter-fraud resources available to you as a HEPA member here.

Discussions

There are a whole host of interesting discussions underway on the boards at the moment.  How are you finding the audit market?  Are you using an eMarketplace, and would you find a survey in this space useful?  What do you do for purchasing cards?  Please do log in and share your experiences and knowledge with colleagues across the sector!

Upcoming events, learning & development

• Thu 13 May @ 14:00: Where we learn matters - the impact and reduction of embodied carbon, hosted by EAUC - book here
• Tue 18 May 2021 @ 09:00: Education Market Engagement for Mobile Services, hosted by CCS - book here
• Thu 20 May @ 10:00: APUC / BUFDG Common VAT & Duty issues for members in Scotland - book here
• Wed 26 May @ 13:00: CIPS / Hays Procurement Salary Guide Launch Event 2021 - book here

The carbon literacy training run in conjunction with colleagues at AUDE and EAUC proved incredibly popular and sold out.  I am pleased to say that three more dates have now been added, which you can book below – just select the "AUDE Members" ticket:

• Wednesday 8th and Wednesday 15th September – book here
• Wednesday 13th and Wednesday 20th October – book here
• Wednesday 10th and Wednesday 17th November – book here

Don’t forget that you can also sign up for your Consortia Conference – LUPC & SUPC’s event takes place next week on 20 May and you can register here; NWUPC & NEUPC’s event takes place on 17 June and you can register here.

Finance news catch-up

• Mini-umbrella company fraud - off payroll workers and procurement: read Julia’s piece
• Get your business ready for the Plastic Packaging Tax: find out more from Andrea
• and VAT liability of installation of blinds in new residential builds

Round-up – plastics, social value, fraud and Incoterms (plus more!)

• When the answer to your anti-plastic challenge is in fact, plastic – a guest blog from Belu following on from Claire Pearson’s brilliant meet the social enterprise session, a recording of which you can view here with the Sustainable Restaurant Association resources available for download here.
• The Social Value Portal last week held a webinar which set out their Social Value Framework for 2021 and the National TOMs (themes outcomes and measures). You can re-watch or catch-up on the webinar here.
• Last week Barclays ran a very informative HE sector session focusing on fraud and financial crime awareness. The session is available for you to re-watch or catch-up on here.
• April construction input cost inflation at 24 year high.
• Finally, you can catch up on our latest batch of time to talk recordings as follows:
  • Apprenticeships, Part I – re-watch James Whybrow of RSM’s session here
  • Apprenticeships, Part II – re-watch Karl Bentley of RSM’s session here
  • Incoterms – re-watch David Miller of The Custom’s People’s session here