Agenda item

The Scrutiny Research Officer reminded Members that at the last Committee meeting during consideration of the Council’s annual budget and Corporate Plan 2021/22 progress update, interest had been shown regarding the requirements and benefits of Social Value and how this particular methodology was currently woven into the Council’s procurement processes.

To ensure Members were kept up to date with the concept, implementation and benefits of Social Value within the Council, a presentation was given to the Committee by Chris Clarke, the Council’s Procurement and Project Officer for Corporate Services and Transformation, who was welcomed to the meeting.

Social Value

In accordance with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, the National Procurement Strategy and the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and Social Value Policy, officers currently delivered and earned social value through their procurement processes.

The Council’s Social Value Policy was approved mid 2020 and the Council was now starting to see real outcomes from its implementation. Current social and local economic value delivered from January 2021 to January 2022 stood at £184,677.89 with a committed value over the life of its procurement so far of £1,445,640.23.

The procurement, measurement, management and reporting of social value were currently administered through a national ‘Social Value Portal’ which provided Council’s with an intuitive, adaptable dashboard for collating the information. 

The recording and use of Social Value methodology enhanced and reinforced the following:

·       Legal Compliance with Social Value

·       Better Value for Money/Return on Investment

·       Increased local Employment Growth

·       Public Health and Wellbeing Benefits

·       Community Resilience

·       Improved Local Place

·       Joint Working around Commissioning and Procurement.

Nottingham City Council currently managed all the Council’s high-level procurement with a set of principles observed as follows:

·       Involving Stakeholders

·       Understanding Changes

·       Valuing the Things that Matter

·       Only including what is Material

·       Not Over-Claiming

·       Being Transparent

·       Verifying the Results

·       Being Responsive.

The framework for delivering excellence in measuring and reporting social value was known as The National TOMs which covered Themes, Outcomes and Measures. Evidence of meeting TOMs requirements was currently registered through the portal as procurement process progressed with regular feedback requirements needing to be met to audit the input accordingly.  Due to the fairly intensive nature of the process, a ‘lite’ version of the TOMs had been developed by the Council to evaluate lesser procurement values between £25k and £100k.

Themes

These are visionary social value areas for an organisation to look at.

Outcomes

These are the positive changes within communities an organisation wants to see.

Measures

These are quantifiable actions that organisations can take to deliver outcomes.

The procurement of goods and services for the Council tended to be a three-way process with Ashfield Commissioning officers firstly preparing invitation to tender documents with Nottingham City Council for any procurement over £25k.  Nottingham City Council then advertised for tenders with social value questions being included in the invitation to tender packs.  The Social Value Portal would then analyse the social value element and return their findings to Nottingham City Council who would then produce the final tender evaluation.

Once the contract had been awarded the winning contractor would then have access to the Social Value Portal to enable them to upload their social value returns at agreed intervals.  The Portal provided regular reporting and prompts to contractors and kept the Council informed regarding any failure to upload agreed returns.

In relation to tenders under the value of £25k which only required quotes as opposed to tenders, the Council had been in the process of developing a Supplier Directory/Portal in order to grow local opportunities and to provide a reference point to officers for low value procurement.  Ashfield staff looking to procure services would be able to search the database for local providers and contact them as required.

To progress the project, a call-out for local businesses/suppliers to register for the directory was being facilitated through all the Council’s media platforms on 7 April 2022.  The portal would then be populated during the following couple of months with staff training sessions taking place on 19 May and a final release date for the Directory of late May 2022.

Following the presentation, Committee Members asked a couple of questions and then thanked the Council’s Procurement and Project Officer for Corporate Services and Transformation, for his excellent and informative presentation.

RESOLVED that

a)    the presentation in relation to the requirements and benefits of Social Value and its use within the Council’s current procurement processes, be received, noted and welcomed;

b)    an update be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee in relation to progress and implementation of the Council’s Suppliers Directory including a short training session for Members if so required.