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Canterbury City Council has been praised for the quality of its procurement practices with small businesses.

The city council was the best in Kent and came second out of 52 local authorities in southeast England in the rankings published recently by the Federation of Small Businesses.

Last year, the city council signed up to the national small business-friendly concordat and is meeting many of its requirements, including publishing a corporate procurement strategy, advertising contracts and offering meaningful feedback to suppliers in order to help them improve for future tenders.

Small businesses offer a number of benefits to local authorities. They respond quickly and flexibly to customer needs, are a source of innovations and ideas, offer cash savings, improved quality and effectiveness and are frequently close at hand.

Local Economy Manager Dawn Hudd said: "We're very pleased to get this positive feedback from an organisation that represents small businesses. It tells us we are on the right lines in the way we deal with small businesses and that they know they will be treated properly by us.

"We want small businesses to have exactly the same opportunities to win contracts and do business with us as larger companies."

For more details on the council's approach to procurement, visit the website at www.canterbury.gov.uk and click on 'working', then 'selling to Canterbury City Council'. Alternatively, contact the Local Economy Team on 01227 862052.