Eleven councils in the south of England are using their combined purchasing power to bring down the cost of office supplies.

Brighton & Hove City Council are leading the Sussex Stationery Consortium which is putting a three year stationery and office supplies contract out to tender.

The Consortium has already been in operation for about ten years but the group of councils, which spend about £1.2million per annum on office supplies, are now seeking to find a single supplier to extract even better value for money.

Brighton and Hove Council leader Mary Mears said: “Our council is proud to be leading on this contract. Buying as a consortium is much more efficient and saves taxpayers money.”

The other councils in the consortium are Adur, Arun, Brighton & Hove, Chichester, East Sussex, Eastbourne, Hastings, Lewes, Rother, Wealden and Worthing.