07 April 2006 | Anusha Bradley

Children's charity Barnardo's has created a corporate procurement function to improve the deals it gets for goods and services.

It is lead by procurement company buyingTeam, which will provide Barnardo's with an on-site procurement manager. It believes this is the first example of an "insourced" managed purchasing initiative in the charity sector.

BuyingTeam's Paul Barber will act as Barnardo's procurement manager and liaise with the newly established corporate buying function, made up of senior executives from the charity. Together they will identify new opportunities for collaborative procurement across the organisation.

He said: "It's exciting to be working with Barnardo's because it is prepared to innovate to ensure resources are used to the maximum effect." First it plans to tackle spend areas such as temporary staff, printing, telecommunications, and furniture.

Richard Penney, finance director, said: "We want to make sure we are getting the best value, service and quality from our suppliers to help us maximise the delivery of services to children and young people."

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