Bedford Borough Council followed national procurement rules when sourcing solar panels for its renewable energy projects, but did not carry out any independent checks to verify supply chains, despite well-documented forced labour risks in parts of the global solar industry.
In a statement last month, the council said neither it nor the framework owners (LASER & SEC) carried out supply-chain audits for the Queen Street, Lurke Street or Elstow projects, because such checks are not required under Cabinet Office procurement rules.
The contract for the Elstow site included clauses requiring the contractor to report suspected modern slavery and maintain supply-chain records, but the council confirmed it did not conduct its own audit or origin-tracing.
For Queen Street and Lurke Street, the council said its call-off contracts did not contain traceability clauses, but believed such provisions may exist within the overarching LASER framework agreement and had contacted the framework owner and supplier for confirmation.
Solar manufacturing relies heavily on polysilicon, and an estimated 35–45 per cent of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon is produced in Xinjiang, a region where Uyghur and other minority groups have been subjected to forced labour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor and academic research from Sheffield Hallam University.
The United Nations has also documented forced labour and coercive labour transfers in the region.
The borough council said it had received assurances from Trina via its contractor, and relied on publicly available accreditations for Jinko, including membership of the Solar Stewardship Initiative, rather than seeking direct evidence from manufacturers or carrying out independent verification.
It also confirmed it does not hold any supply-chain records from Breyer Group, a contractor involved in the programme which has since entered administration.
A growing number of buyers in the UK solar sector are beginning to require documented traceability of key materials, for example, pre-qualification questionnaires, factory-level audits and third-party certification.
However, the borough council’s approach reflects the current national minimum, but not these emerging practices.
EEGroup, the contractor for Queen Street and the pending Lurke Street installation, did not respond to questions.
Vital Energi, named in council disclosures as having carried out due diligence for Elstow, said it had “coordinated our response with Bedford Borough Council” and would support further questions via the council.
by John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
