Green said his appointment was part of the authority's drive to improve visibility, accuracy and accountability in the supply chain process.

Green has worked in purchasing at Powys for 10 years, first as procurement officer and rising to procurement manager. Before that, he worked for 12 years at British Aerospace as materials manager in its corporate jets arm.

His responsibilities at Powys have included the introduction of purchasing cards, a move towards more online buying and bringing small local enterprises into the supply chain.

"One of the main challenges of the job then was to bring procurement to the top of the council agenda, which we succeeded in doing," he said.

"It was a big step because we spend £100 million a year on goods, services and works, which represents 50 per cent of the council's total budget."

Green now plans to improve internal business processes throughout the council's support services, from human resources to IT.

"At the moment we are hamstrung by manual systems such as written order books and contracts," he said.

"We need to get more business channelled through purchasing cards and computer systems so that we can target expenditure more accurately."