Sir Stephen Bubb has issued a stark warning to councils and NHS bodies which pass charities by in the commissioning process without scoring on social value: Acevo "will take such lawbreakers to court".
In a blog published yesterday Sir Stephen spoke about a third sector consortium launching in April, set up by Knowsley CVS with Acevo's help. Some 14 civil society organisations have formed a working group for the consortium that will come together to bid for contracts and draw a supply chain for contracts. Sir Stephen congratulated Knowsley Council for having drawn up plans to include social value in the scoring of its tenders, something Sir Stephen believes is a first. The council will make social value worth 10 per cent of its score, he advised.
But Sir Stephen said that "most councils and certainly practically no health bodies have done anything to update their procurement in line with the new Act which came into force in January".
He warned that Acevo would come down hard on any public body not taking the Public Service (Social Value) Act seriously:
"Acevo will be looking for any examples of a poor contract award where the charity lost out and the commissioner did not score social value, and we will be ready to take any such lawbreakers to court. Bring it on!" he exclaimed.
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 was passed on 28 February 2012 and came into effect in January. It requires public bodies “to consider how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the relevant area” – and, where appropriate, to write that social value objective into the procurement process.
Earlier this month Labour MP Hazel Blears warned that the sector would need to maintain pressure in order to ensure that public bodies implement the act.
However some councils have taken measures to ensure they comply. Liverpool, for example, has created a social value taskforce to ensure commissioners implement the Act.
Local Government Authority response
Responding to Sir Stephen's comments, an LGA spokesman said that the implementation of the Act is a "work in progress". He added: "Under the Social Value Act we do have a statutory requirement to pay regard to economic, social and environmental wellbeing within contracts. We issued guidance to our members on that.
"We have an area of the LGA called the Productivity Programme which has looked at this and has found in a number of cases councils are already applying a social value approach to their procurement process. Primarily looking at getting local suppliers and keeping money in the local economy. And then there's been some work done by a number of councils on social return on investment, so it's not just Knowsley, it is wider spread than that."
A pioneering consortia
Regardless of wider council support for the Act, Sir Stephen and John Gillespie, business planning consultant at Acevo, believe that Knowsley is doing something unique. The use of a 'super-provider' structure, where organisations large and small are on a level footing with no hierarchy, said Gillespie, is a key difference.
The current working group, members of which may or may not participate in the final consortium, includes Barnardos, Home-Start Knowsley, Huyton Advice Centre and the Citizens Advice Bureau among its 14 members.
Having come into operation as a new body this week, the consortium will launch officially on 22 April opening up to all civil society organisations in the area for the first time.
This project, as well as four further projects Acevo is working with in different councils have received seed funding of £10,000 each from the LGA, matched by a further £10,000 from each of the councils.
"This is pioneering work and we need to spread it," said Sir Stephen.
