Social value

I was very encouraged to read the interview in Wednesday's Guardian with Chris White MP regarding his private members' bill – which has cross-party support and is expected to become law before next summer – that will require public bodies to take into account "social value" whenever they put a contract out to tender.

I fully support the following statements made in the interview and am greatly encouraged to finally hear these issues being raised in Parliament:

" ... public services commissioning ... tends – with rare exceptions – to favour the provider that can offer the cheapest price, or raise most capital to underpin its bid, an outcome that may have become even more pronounced since the deep spending cuts imposed on public bodies over the past year.

Contracting usually works to the advantage of big organisations with deep pockets and finely honed expertise in the art of bidding, says White. Financial muscle often trumps quality, innovation and the wider needs of the local community.

The bill effectively recognises that while it is often small, locally-based social enterprises that strive to build added social value into everything they do, the financial imperatives of contracting – and the design of contracting frameworks – means those smaller outfits often do not even qualify to be able to put in a bid ...

The bill will require public bodies to look beyond the conventional balance sheet when they contract, he says. "What we are trying to achieve is [a realisation that] it is not all about bottom-line cost.

"The key to the bill is talking about social value, which is not about that one discrete line of a budget, it's about so many other things that are extra to that budget. It's not about the cheapest good or service, but what is going to do something for the community. What's going to take people out of unemployment? What's going to be more responsive to local people's needs?" he says."

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