From our recent ‘doing battle with the deficit’ research' into the opinions of public sector procurement professionals and a roundtable debate we hosted, the opinion and message of those on the frontline of the battle with deficit repair is clear ‘procurement can make a difference, let us take on the challenge’.

Frustration from procurement professionals is evident as Barbara Cairney, head of procurement for Northamptonshire Police commented at the debate “It is a shame that it has taken the current financial situation to bring procurement to the fore, but there is an opportunity to shape the future of the public sector and bring more of our commercial knowledge into play”.

Now it would seem that Sir Philip Green, owner of Arcadia Group agrees that procurement offers a great “opportunity” to save money in the government. Sir Philip has been asked by David Cameron to head up an external efficiency review into government spending ahead of the published spending review in October. You can hear how Sir Philip thinks procurement plays a key role in spending efficiency for the government by listening to his interview with Radio 4’s Today programme.