How well are you delivering social value?
I’ve been discussing social value with a number of our members in recent times but there doesn’t appear to be a consistent approach to how this should be addressed from one authority to another. It’s becoming clearer for those who go out to tender for their services but less so for those who have their own design and consultancy support in addition to their own Direct Labour Organisation.
The Social Value Act 2012 states that all public bodies must consider how what they are proposing to buy might improve economic, social and environmental wellbeing. The measurement of social value and the community benefits that can be generated from public sector procurement has become increasingly standardised across local government, with the introduction of the national TOMs framework, developed by the Social Value Portal in 2017 and endorsed by the LGA.
TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) created a new, common language for social value, encouraging a greater consistency in its reporting and measurement. The 5 key themes that TOMs is built around are:
• Promoting local skills and employment
• Sustainable and responsible regional business growth
• Building healthier, safer, and resilient communities
• Decarbonising and protecting the planet
• Promoting and enabling innovation
TOMS defines social value in comprehensive and consistent terms, using the five social value themes above, 30 outcomes, and c.100 measures. It includes proxy values (quantifiable measurement) for each of the 100 measures resulting in two further benefits:
• As an industry-wide standard it has credibility with authorities and providers
• The framework provides a consistent basis for benchmarking social value between authorities and between providers.
So, in local government highways we need to think beyond the spend on private sector organisations but also the spend on services that are self-delivered by applying the principles of the framework described above.