business leaders as a way of advancing equality and diversity, through partnership between the public and private sectors (CBI, 2009) and by a government inquiry as a means of overcoming occupational gender segregation (Business Innovation and Skills Committee, 2013: 67). Effecting change in the construction workforce is challenging, however, due to the extensive practice of subcontracting, often with lengthy supply chains and high levels of precarious self-employment, which is often effectively bogus or false self-employment (Behling and Harvey, 2015). Therefore any efforts by public sector purchasers to influence the employment practices of private sector contractors need to take account of subcontractors. public procurement to promote equality There is historical precedent for using the power of public procurement to advance equality objectives in the UK and the United States. Public procurement can be defined as purchasing by government from private sector contractors, typically on the basis of competitive bidding, of goods and services need by government (McCrudden, 2007a: 3). The related term contract compliance refers to the use of public sector procurement to achieve wider social and economic goals (Orton and Ratcliffe, 2005: 259) and was adopted during the 1980s by some UK local authorities to require contractors to undertake equality measures, particularly in relation to race equality (Dickens, 2007). Under the leadership of Labour’s Ken Livingstone, the former Greater London Council (GLC), was a prominent advocate of contract compliance, which had the effect that almost half of contracted companies improved their equality procedures as a result (Djan Tackey et al., 2009: 13-14). However, reforms introduced by the Conservative government in 1988 ended the practice by preventing local authorities from taking into account factors in the ‘non-commercial’ awarding of contracts (Dickens, 2007: 485). Under the Labour governments from 1997 there
business leaders as a way of advancing equality and diversity, through partnership between the public and private sectors (CBI, 2009) and by a government inquiry as a means of overcoming occupational gender segregation (Business Innovation and Skills Committee, 2013: 67). Effecting change in the construction workforce is challenging, however, due to the extensive practice of subcontracting, often with lengthy supply chains and high levels of precarious self-employment, which is often effectively bogus or false self-employment (Behling and Harvey, 2015). Therefore any efforts by public sector purchasers to influence the employment practices of private sector contractors need to take account of subcontractors. public procurement to promote equality There is historical precedent for using the power of public procurement to advance equality objectives in the UK and the United States. Public procurement can be defined as purchasing by government from private sector contractors, typically on the basis of competitive bidding, of goods and services need by government (McCrudden, 2007a: 3). The related term contract compliance refers to the use of public sector procurement to achieve wider social and economic goals (Orton and Ratcliffe, 2005: 259) and was adopted during the 1980s by some UK local authorities to require contractors to undertake equality measures, particularly in relation to race equality (Dickens, 2007). Under the leadership of Labour’s Ken Livingstone, the former Greater London Council (GLC), was a prominent advocate of contract compliance, which had the effect that almost half of contracted companies improved their equality procedures as a result (Djan Tackey et al., 2009: 13-14). However, reforms introduced by the Conservative government in 1988 ended the practice by preventing local authorities from taking into account ‘non-commercial’ factors in the awarding of contracts (Dickens, 2007: 485). Under the Labour governments from 1997 there
EID%20Wright%20and%20Conley%20final.docx