Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 10 (21 June 2022), the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Core Services introduced a report on the progress and impact of the Council’s Social Value in Procurement policy, which established a framework, guidance and process to ensure that Social Value proposals and principles formed part of major contracts let by the Council.

The Cabinet Member advised that of 52 relevant procurements with an annual value over £100,000 that were completed in 2022/23, all had included contractual commitments to provide some social value to the Borough and its residents.  The report highlighted several examples of innovative projects that had been developed by contractors and clients, such as the plastic bottle recycling scheme whereby members of a school community brought in clean plastic bottles and the contractor turned them into a greenhouse for the students to use.  Other social value benefits have included greater access to jobs, work experience, work placements and industry learning for Barking and Dagenham residents, as well as financial contributions to support local projects.

The Cabinet Member also referred to other initiatives being led by the Council’s Social Value Coordinator, which included bi-monthly meetings between Council officers and the voluntary and community sector to ensure that, wherever possible, Social Value commitments reflected the needs, issues and priorities facing residents and helped build the capacity of existing initiatives to address them.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the continued positive impact of the Council’s Social Value in Procurement policy in terms of suppliers’ social value commitments and associated outputs during 2022/23, as detailed in Appendix A to the report; and

(ii)  Note the Council’s wider Social Impact across other Inclusive Economy sectors.