Report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement and the Strategic Lead – Commissioning.

This report sets out the Council’s approach to social value.

The committee received a report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement and the Strategic Lead – Commissioning which set out the Council’s approach to social value.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Providing an introduction and background to social value;
• The social value governance and programme;
• An overview of social value in commissioning and procurement;
• Social value key performance indicator (KPIs) targets and actuals to date for the Our Town Hall project;
• Issues and next steps; and
• Case studies of social value within the Highways service.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

• Welcoming the work, particularly that in North Manchester;
• Why the KPIs around new apprentices up to level 3 and existing apprentices employed were below target, and requesting that this be referenced in the Our Town Hall Project Update report scheduled for July;
• How social value projects can help with community cohesion where new developments are built in existing communities;
• Noting that social value can help to improve contractors and career progression;
• How social value within procurement can be tracked and monitored;
• Whether a communications plan was in place to publicise the good work being driven through social value;
• How information on social value was captured where the Council had worked with the same suppliers as other organisations; and
• How delivery on the KPIs for the Factory International project would compare with those for Our Town Hall.

The Deputy Executive Member for Finance and Resources stated that the Council’s commitment to social value began in 2007 and that Manchester had the largest social value and zero carbon weightings in their procurement process than any other local authority in the country, which demonstrated how the Council was a pioneer in social value. She explained that the Council had dedicated policies and governance structures to ensure that social value was embedded into procurement and commissioning processes. She stated that social value had provided an innovative way to support deprived communities against a backdrop of funding cuts.

The Social and Economic Project Manager informed the committee of several projects he had worked on to deliver social value with different contractors, education settings and Council teams.

In response to a member’s query regarding the number of apprentices employed on the Our Town Hall project, the Strategic Lead – Commissioning stated that he would confirm this with the project team.

The Social and Economic Project Manager explained that a community group had been established to engage on masterplans and that a review was being undertaken on how to improve community engagement.

The Strategic Lead – Commissioning acknowledged the importance of tracking social value achievements in procurement. He stated that the Council had a dedicated tool for tracking social value on larger contracts such as construction and highways. He recognised that there was a challenge in tracking this across a multitude of contracts, but this was included in the service’s programme of work. A new contract management system was being implemented and would have the capability to track KPIs. Officers were also considering a measuring tool for medium-sized contracts and how to collate more case studies.

The committee was also advised that the Social Value Fund consisted of monetary contributions made by suppliers and had been used for a number of projects overseen by the Social Value Governance Board. However, it was noted that some of the biggest contributions to social value were made through the creation of jobs and opportunities.

In response to a query regarding whether a communications plan was available, the Social and Economic Project Manager explained that an annual report was provided to the Regeneration and Economic Board and could be shared with members following this. Organisations that the Council worked with also created their own annual reports, which could be shared. Weekly updates were provided to the Growth and Development team and the communications group met monthly. 

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer stated that achievements of zero carbon work were highlighted by the communications group and the Council’s communications team to capture information and produce a newsletter. She noted that this could be implemented for social value achievements.

In response to the Chair’s query regarding the KPIs for Factory International, it was advised that a report on this was considered by the Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee in March 2023 and provided further detail.

The Strategic Lead – Commissioning explained that social value was monitored on a project-by-project basis and good practice was shared, particularly in the construction sector, but he noted that it was an area for development.

Decision:

That the report be noted.