From legislation to practice: the social value act

In a March 2012 blog I argued that the public services (social value) act 2012 was a real opportunity for local government to change their practices and cultures around procurement. Indeed, the act now requires certain public authorities to consider at the pre-procurement stage how the service might improve the economic, social and well-being of their locality.

As the requirement became applicable from 31^st January 2013, we at CLES thought it would be opportune to undertake a piece of research with a small sample of our member authorities to see what they were doing in practical terms to respond to the provisions of the act. We found that:

• 80% of authorities were already considering economic, social and environmental benefit in their procurement processes, however this was largely in relation to construction services;
• 50% of authorities would be making changes to their practices as a result of the act, including embedding social value into their procurement strategies and introducing social value weighting as part of their tender evaluation;
• 83% of authorities felt that the act would add value to their existing procurement processes and practices;
• And 40% of authorities stated that they would be providing advice and support for small business and social enterprise around social value evidence requirements.

For me, social value consideration in procurement practice in local government needs to run beyond the pre-procurement stage of the cycle; but be embedded in service design and commissioning; procurement strategy; and in service delivery.

This is why we have been thinking about how local authorities at various stages of the procurement cycle can enable and maximise economic, social and environmental benefits in procurement. CLES’ latest bulletin, ‘Responding to the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012’, introduces our approach.

We are using the approach in a number of authorities to assess current practice in terms of enabling economic, social and environmental benefit, identifying gaps, and offering recommendations for future practice.

The act is therefore a good legislative start. However it is down to local government to reflect social value in service transformation, service design and commissioning, and service delivery; in addition to pre-procurement exercises to ensure there is real change in practice.