Whitehall departments will need to make savings on the £220bn that the government spends each year procuring goods and services under a new regime of targets that is due to start this spring.

Today, Treasury body the Office of Government Commerce – which is tasked with saving public money by promoting efficiency in the public services – launched its Policy Through Procurement Action Plan. The aim is to get tough on waste from government departments and use procurement to advance three policy agendas:

• To  lower the barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises winning government contracts. This is intended to make procurement more competitive and push down costs.
• To provide create apprenticeships and support skills training in bodies including the Homes and Communities Agency, and on the Building Schools for the Future programme.
• To use procurement to put more pressure on the environmental targets of its suppliers, helping the government drive down it carbon dioxide emissions and make savings on wasted energy.

The OGC will monitor government departments against new targets with new performance metrics, which it is expected to introduce in spring 2010. OGC said it planned to launch an index in autumn 2010 to monitor how innovative different public sector bodies are being.

Liam Byrne, chief secretary to the Treasury, said supporting small businesses would help the government support economic recovery: “Government spending power will help to lock in the recovery by providing support and investment to the businesses up and down the country,” he said.

It also plans to create 3,000 new apprenticeships at the Homes and Communities Agency and 250 new apprenticeships under the Building Schools for the Future development programme by 2011 through its contractors’ framework.

To read the full plan click here: Policy Through Procurement Action Plan

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