CCS invests further £800,000 into commercial capability training programme for local government

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has announced further investment in the Contract Management Pioneer Programme (CMPP) to help improve commercial capability across the local government sector. 

This additional funding to support the CMPP through to April 2026 supports the Government’s commitment to kickstart economic growth, offering vital training and support to improve contract management capability.

These skills are vital to help authorities achieve their full commercial potential and achieve the maximum value for public money.

Since launching in November 2021, the CMPP has engaged with commercial colleagues from over 80 councils across England. As of March 2025, 92% of councils participating in

CMPP saw an improvement in contract management practices with 144 learners achieving full accreditation through the programme to date.

By investing further into the programme, CCS aims to:

• improve contract management skills across local government
• equip participating councils to sustain and build on improvements in the way they manage commercial delivery
• inform and enable meaningful organisational change around contract management
• empower colleagues to implement best practice and achieve the best value from the billions of pounds worth of contracts they manage every year

What is the Contract Management Pioneer Programme?

The CMPP programme is a collaborative partnership between CCS and Local Partnerships, a public sector consultancy jointly owned by the Local Government Association, Welsh government, and HM Treasury. 

The CMPP provides commercial capability training, provided by the Cabinet Office, to local government colleagues across the country.

It aims to enhance contract management skills and capabilities across the local government sector by:

• offering funded training opportunities for commercial colleagues on the practitioner-level accreditation course, tailored to address practical challenges
• working directly with councils to progress their contract management capability and
• share the learning with other local authorities
• creating networks for both learners and Senior Responsible Officers, to build communities of practice among participating councils
• promoting knowledge-sharing, best practice and peer learning by fostering collaboration between councils, leveraging their collective experiences and insights
• developing individualised improvement roadmaps for each participating council to target their specific transformation goals in contract management
• offering innovative resources, including the CMPP toolkit and Business Process Mapping (BPM), to serve as legacy support for councils beyond the programme’s duration

The Government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement calls on organisations across the public sector to play their part in ensuring value for public money. The CMPP underpins this procurement priority by helping local authorities maximise the value in their purchases. 

This is achieved by putting the appropriate commercial capability and standards in place to allow these authorities to procure and manage contracts effectively, so they get the most for their money. 

David Bemrose, CCS’s Head of Account Strategy for Local Communities and Housing, said:

We are delighted to be able to continue our collaborative work with Local Partnerships and the Local Government Association to build meaningful commercial capability across the local government sector. 

This continued investment is a demonstration of the value CCS adds beyond cost savings to the public sector and how we use our expertise to achieve the best outcomes for local citizens. 

Lee Redmond from Orbis Procurement representing Surrey County Council, added:

The training available through the Contract Management Pioneer Programme is very thorough and I’m really impressed. If I go back a few years, the resources available were very limited, usually this meant having to invent our own tools, templates and approaches. 

If I fast forward to today the resources have increased phenomenally, and we don’t need to reinvent things which has helped capacity constraints and raises the standards in individual councils and across the public sector.

Find more information about our work in supporting local government, visit our dedicated webpage.

To find out more about the CMPP, visit Local Partnerships’ website.