Social Value in Procurement Eleni Pasdeki-Clewer 22nd November 2017

Meet the SDU To embed and promote the three elements of sustainable development – environmental, social and financial Purpose National unit, working on behalf of the health and care system in England Remit Jointly funded by, and accountable to NHS England and Public Health England Accountability

Terminology Triple bottom line: People, Planet, Profit Sustainability Social Value How do you interpret Social Value?

Terminology People Planet Profit

✗ ✓ The Social Value Act “The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012” Came into force on 31 January 2013 Commissioners required to consider the economic, environmental and social benefits of their approaches to procurement before the process starts. They also have to consider whether they should consult on these issues. Applies to: Public authorities Pre-procurement stage Service contracts Over OJEU thresholds A tool to help get more value for money out of procurement Does not apply to: Goods contracts Under OJEU Call-offs But it is good practice to do so!!! ✗ ✓

The Unit’s involvement 1 one the 8 modules that underpin the SDS Implementation notes Steering Group, Chaired by Sir Michael Marmot East of England Informal Network A steering group has been set up in partnership between the SDU (NHS England and PHE), Cabinet Office and Social Enterprise UK to help ensure the module and the SDS is implemented.  This is chaired by Michael Marmot and the steering group are collating case studies and best practice exemplars to show how use of the act can reduce inequalities across communities.  In particular they are recommending that system wide commissioning intentions are explicit about how they will reduce inequalities.

… in practice… Awareness Understanding Measurement and take up of the Act is a mixed picture For example: Asking generic questions about “Social Value” – what does it mean? What element of Social Value are we interested to see promoted? Long term unemployed into work? Employment and training opportunities for certain disadvantaged groups? Ban the Box? Supporting local SMEs? Working with Social Enterprises? Asking suppliers to explain how they are delivering the Social Value Act in their local communities and evaluating their responses Asking suppliers of unrelated services to explain what benefits they will deliver to local communities and not scoring the question Considering the impacts of a service and consulting with local communities but not acting upon the findings Understanding of how to apply it, varies → inconsistent practice: how to define SV, how and when to include it in the procurement process, applying SV within procurement rules & clarifying its use in pre-procurement Measurement is not yet fully developed Lord Young’s review 2015

NHSE: work in progress Corestream Sustainability Risk Assessment 1.Business Need 2.ProcurementStrategy 3.Tender Process 4.Contract Award 5.Contract Management Engage with and support Business Units Consideration of Social Value within business case process Sustainability Risk Assessment Wide market engagement Embed within specification and award criteria as appropriate Supplier Code of Ethics tbd Introduce into existing contracts when appropriate Corestream

What I’m learning… Still exploring! Term is unclear and interpreted in various ways which adds to the confusion Most successful approaches suggest that it needs to make sense for local circumstances Action needs to link with wider organisational objectives otherwise hard to assert links – need to set clear priorities Cross-sectoral approaches would work best Difficulty in quantification and paucity of measurement tools making it harder to demonstrate benefits It’s about using public sector money to deliver much more than services EoE Informal Network is proving helpful; scope and appetite for replication?

In summary… Invest in developing your approach and then: Be specific Be relevant Be decisive

Thank you! Eleni.Pasdeki-Clewer@nhs.net