Report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement.

This report provides an update on the social value delivered through the contracts that the Council has with its suppliers.

The committee considered a report of the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement which provided an update on the social value delivery of the Council and its wider partnerships. 

Key points and themes within the report included:

·         The work of the Social Value Governance Board; 

·         The introduction of a Social Value Co-ordinator role on a 2-year fixed-term contract;

·         Updates on social value within contracts, including major contracts;

·         Measurement of social value;

·         Training and guidance; 

·         A refresh of procurement documentation, including Invitation to Tender documents; 

·         The Social Value Fund and projects which have benefited from this; 

·         Case studies from suppliers; and

·         The work of the National Social Value Task Force.

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

·         Welcoming the comprehensive appendices;

·         How local members could work with their Neighbourhood teams to suggest projects that may benefit from social value; 

·         What the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and monitoring process would be for the social value road map at appendix 4;

·         If there was a link between the new procurement regulations and social value; 

·         Who was responsible for monitoring social value; 

·         How the success of social value delivery was communicated with residents, with particular reference to the Our Town Hall project;

·         How members could get more social value embedded within their wards; 

The Deputy Executive Member for Finance and Resources introduced the item and thanked the committee for their continued interest in the Council’s social value work. She stated that the Council was continuing to lead on and deliver a wide range of social value and Manchester had the highest social value and zero carbon weightings in procurement than any other local authority in the country. 

The Chair relayed a written representation from Councillor Reid to the committee, which commended the social value work undertaken by Morgan Sindall which was contracted for the development of Gorton Hub and Hammerstone Road. Councillor Reid stated that Morgan Sindall recruited local people to apprentices and placed great emphasis on mental health support for their employees. Local community groups had also been assisted in their projects by volunteers from Morgan Sindall. 

In response to queries, the Commissioning Lead noted that further work was needed to identify local members’ roles in identifying areas for social value work and this could be undertaken by the Social Value Governance Board. He explained that the brokerage workstream of the Social Value Governance Board Task and Finish Group tried to identify how the Council could connect opportunities with local need. This would be progressed with the Social Value Governance Board and the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement advised that there had been discussion on how to link this with Neighbourhood Investment Funds. 

The Commissioning Lead acknowledged that measurement of social value was a challenge for many authorities and partners and the Council was currently part of a Co-operative Councils’ network which looked at social value measurement. This was a challenge because there were several measurement frameworks available, such as Themes, Outcomes, Measures (TOMS) although it was noted that this framework was difficult to use when measuring social value delivered by voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) groups. He stated that there had been significant work undertaken in the last year to identify a more consistent measurement of social value and KPIs had been developed. 

In response to a query regarding a link between the new procurement regulations and social value, the Head of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement stated that there was no reference to social value in the new regulations but that the Procurement Act supported social value delivery through the amendment to award contracts to the most advantageous tender. 

The committee was advised that there was an internal resource or a social value portal which were responsible for monitoring the social value delivery of major projects through the collection and verification of data and this was something that officers wanted to embed into the management of all contracts. The Commissioning Lead also advised that a Social Value Co-ordinator had been recruited and would begin work in January 2024. This role was established following the success of a dedicated resource on other projects and would be responsible for liaising with teams across the Council to promote opportunities for social value and collate information on delivery.  

The Commissioning Lead explained that Social Value Governance Board Task and Finish Group was seeking to improve communication on social value work and the Council’s Communications team and wider corporate services, such as HROD, were involved in promoting this. The Head of Integrated Commissioning stated that the Council previously held annual social value event, but it was felt that this only reached those involved in social value work already and officers wanted to identify better methods of communication. 

It was also noted that different industries were in different places with their social value work, for example the highways and construction sectors who had been delivering social value for a number of years. 

The Deputy Executive Member for Finance and Resources thanked officers for their work and recognised the role of members in being best placed to identify areas in their communities that could benefit from social value. She reiterated that the Council was a leader on social value work and acknowledged that it was sometimes easier to communicate social value work on the Our Town Hall project than it was for highways projects but this was an area of consideration going forwards with a communications plan in development. 

Decision: 

That the committee

1.    notes the report, and

2.    requests that the next Social Value Update report includes further information on how social value work is communicated.