Experts quizzed in design review by Parliamentary group

A Parliamentary team aiming to improve design buying in the Government is set to quiz high-level policy experts about their procurement practice.

The all-party Associate Parliamentary Group for Design and Innovation and the Design Business Association are holding a series of meetings as part of a research-based initiative to improve procurement.

They have already held two meetings, talking to designers and those who commission designers, and on 20 July will meet with policy experts, including representatives from the Central Office of Information and the New Local Government Network.

Jocelyn Bailey, who this week replaced Oliver Coppard as manager of the APGDI, says, ‘We have heard a lot about the problems of procurement from the design side, now we want to hear those who set policy defending their practice.’

The research gathered in the meetings will result in a series of recommendations, which will be presented to Parliament in October.

The meetings, which follow the procedures of a Select Committee, are chaired by Baroness Janet Whitaker.

The panel also features Baroness Estelle Morris; DBA chief executive Deborah Dawton; Julian Grice, chief executive of The Team; Laura Haynes, director of Appetite; and David Godber, deputy chief executive of the Design Council.