Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 4 (19 May 2020), the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services introduced an update report on the Council’s new policy framework, guidance and process to ensure that Social Value proposals and principles formed part of all new Council procurements with an annual value over £100,000.

The Cabinet Member advised that since the new Social Value policy and toolkit had been formally launched in October 2020, commitments had been received from the five successful tenderers for qualifying Council contracts which supported one or more of the five main social value themes of “Investment in Local People”, “Investment in Local Economy”, “Environmental Sustainability”, “Community Participation and Engagement” and “People, Independence and Resilience”.  A further 29 qualifying procurement strategies had been endorsed by the Council’s internal Social Value Steering Group and Procurement Board since the launch and the Social Value Coordinator continued to work closely with commissioners to embed the new arrangements.

The Cabinet Member referred to the key lines of focus for the next 12 months and the potential to extend the concept of social value to other aspects beyond procurement.  One initiative related to the Council’s ambition to achieve London Living Wage (LLW) accreditation from the LLW Foundation which, up until now, had proved difficult because of a lack of data relating to the Council’s supply chain.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the positive impact of the revised Social Value policy in terms of commitments in its first six months;

(ii)  Note the intention for the Council to apply for London Living Wage accreditation and its associated impacts, as set out in section 4.2 of the report; and

(iii)  Note the updated Social Value Toolkit, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.