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More than 100 firms have signed up to a charter promising to ‘buy Brummie’ and pay the living wage.

The Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility places a number of expectations on suppliers to the city council when contracts are renewed.

Not only do firms have to pay decent wages and use local suppliers, they must also create local jobs and apprenticeships, be green and plough something back into the community.

Eventually more than 500 businesses, which supply more than £200,000 worth of goods or services to the council per year, are expected to sign up.

The charter aims to squeeze extra value from the £1 billion the council spends on procurement.

Professional services firm Deloitte, construction giant Carillion and janitorial supplier Enterprise Rent-A-Car are among some of the larger businesses to sign up.

Coun Stewart Stacey, cabinet member for commissioning, contracting and improvement, said: “The charter makes a clear statement about those that have earned it – they look after their employees, the environment, those in their supply chain and the communities they work amongst.

“As a council, we control £1 billion of spending annually, so we want to make sure that every penny of taxpayer money is spent in a way that delivers the maximum benefits for the people of Birmingham. The charter is a mechanism to do this.”