Issue - meetings

Report of Director of Law and Governance

Purpose of report

To advise Executive on progress towards introducing a Social Value Policy for Cherwell District Council.

Recommendations

The meeting is recommended:

1.1         To approve the draft Social Value Policy (Appendix 1).

1.2         To approve the planned implementation of the Social Value Policy, as outlined in the report

Resolved

(1)           That the Social Value Policy be approved.

(2)           That  the planned implementation of the Social Value Policy be approved.

The Director of Law and Governance submitted a report to advise Executive on progress towards introducing a Social Value Policy for Cherwell District Council.

Resolved

(1)          That the Social Value Policy be approved.

(2)          That  the planned implementation of the Social Value Policy be approved.

Reasons

The aim of the CDC Social Value Policy is to enable the Council’s spending to go further by encouraging suppliers to commit to providing additional social value, through the tendering process, that will benefit local communities within Cherwell.

Incorporating social value into our procurement process can be achieved with minimal additional time and cost, yet it is a change that can make a real difference to people in the local community, to service delivery and to the Council’s spending plans as a whole.

Social value is also a legal requirement as set out in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, which came into effect in January 2013, and the recent National Procurement Statement (PPN 05/21) published in June 2021. Both the law and the statement apply to all types of public bodies, including local authorities. The mandatory nature of this legislation underlines the importance of launching the policy as quickly as possible.

Alternative options

Option 1: The option of doing nothing is not available for this project, because it is a legal requirement as set out in the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and the recent National Procurement Policy Statement (PPN 05/21) published in June 2021.

Option 2: The option of undertaking the project using only internal resource was considered, however this would have incurred significant soft costs and would have also taken much longer to implement. Utilising the expertise of the Social Value Portal was considered the best value option, enabling the policy to be effective, well-considered and informed by best practices. In addition, the social value resulting from the new policy is expected to be many times the cost of annual membership, which is relatively low at £15 K GBP.