Only 19 per cent of council-bought goods and services currently comes from North Ayrshire it was revealed, after an Irvine firm was recently snubbed over its period poverty drive.

Council leader Joe Cullinane confirmed 19.18 per cent of goods and services came from firms headquartered in North Ayrshire in 2019-20 – adding this is the highest level it’s been in 10 years.

We reported recently in the month how a reusable sanitary pad-maker felt heartbroken to be snubbed for a cheaper-made imported product after the council used her brand in its period poverty drive.

Irvine’s TCS-Eco director Kerry-Anne Quinn – who manufactures quality reusable sanitary pads to ‘save the planet one period at a time’ – was approached by council chiefs to help support its period poverty drive.

However Kerry-Anne told the Times she was shocked to learn from customers they then received items from a different supplier.

She said: “I’m utterly gobsmacked about how the council dealt with us and how they have treated us. I just feel as though my brand has been used for the ethos of shop local – but that’s not what they have provided.”

Responding to a question from Irvine West Conservative Cllr Scott Gallacher on goods and services bought from business in North Ayrshire, the council leader said he hoped to reach a procurement target of 26 per cent by 2024.

Cllr Cullinane said “For 2019-20 it was 19.18per cent, an increase of 1.75 per cent from 2018-19 (17.43 per cent) and the highest percentage for 10 years.

“Procurement is of course one of the key pillars of our Community Wealth Building strategy. The aspiration as reflected in the Council Plan’s performance management framework is that we work towards a target of 26 per cent by 2024.

“We must achieve that within current procurement guidelines and legislation, but we have made immediate changes to some of our procurement processes, such as on Quick Quotes and Wave Planning, to help achieve that.

“Fundamental to any success will be ensuring that the Business team builds capacity within the local market so that local businesses are able to bid for contracts and to be competitive when they do so.

“We allocated resources in last year’s budget to increase the business team’s capacity and to recruit a procurement development officer to work on Community Wealth Building.”