Agenda item

Social Value in Procurement

To consider a report from the Director of Resources inviting the Scrutiny Board to consider an update report on social value in procurement following previous consideration in February 2021 that focussed on social value guidance for commissioners in the Council.

Minutes:

The Director of Resources presented a report inviting the Scrutiny Board to consider an update report on social value in procurement following previous consideration in February 2021 that focussed on social value guidance for commissioners in the Council.

 

In attendance for this item were:

·  Neil Evans - Director of Resources

·  Councillor Coupar – Executive Member for Resources

  • Kieron Dennett - Head of Procurement & Commercial Services

 

Responding to questions from Members, the Board were provided with the following information:

 

  • 66% of total spend by the Council is with local businesses and SMEs and that has been on an upward trajectory over the past five years.
  • Over the past 12 months an LGA peer review has been undertaken which suggested that the Council could do more on social value and enhance ambitions and further embed it in Leeds through social value commitments. As a result, the work through the Social Value Portal has been developed. There is £21,631,485.00 of committed Social Values, from that £210,819.00 has been delivered to date. It was noted that while the differential between the committed and delivered values is something to be monitored, it is expected to naturally reduce over the respective contract terms.
  • Social Value Portal has only been in operation in Leeds for 12 months and typical procurement timescales tend to take 6 months before contracts are in place. This being the first year of using Social Value Portal it should set a baseline for future activity in this area.
  • It was pointed out that If suppliers are unable to deliver against their social value commitments, then alternative actions would be discussed with them but ultimately it would be possible to reduce the payments to suppliers if social value commitments are not delivered. The reduced payments could then in turn lead to the Council using the savings to deliver social value benefits from it.
  • On low or no emissions vehicles members were keen to see a commitment to reducing the number of miles travelled as well as the transition to low emission vehicles.
  • Responding to a question related to how Leeds compares with other local authorities in terms of delivering social value, the Board were informed that Leeds will increase its ambition on social value once the initial steps taken through the Social Value Portal have been assessed. Leeds has been active in this area for a number of years and this renewed approach provides enhanced capturing of that work. In addition, the Council is keen to play a lead role in terms of encouraging anchor institutions in the city to also encourage social value in procurement to deliver against the whole city potential in this area.
  • The Council has been active with the third sector and the introduction of a social value charter several years ago highlights this and it was emphasised that the work captured in the report, whilst increasing social value, also better captures and analyses existing work.
  • Responding to questions about costs the board heard that social value can be delivered at no extra cost in terms of outlay for suppliers. A good example of this is provision of mentoring or by encouraging volunteers to provide social value activity.

 

RESOLVED – To:

a) Note the content of the report

 

 

Supporting documents: