Chris White Warwick and Leamington MP's Social Value Private Members Bill will mean local authorities will need to have regard to the social outcomes of any contract in their commissioning of service.Chris is hopeful that after the bill's Report Stage and Third Reading on 25th November, potentially we can have the bill on the statute book by May 2012. But it also has to go through the House of Lords.

Chris White -  MP  says this about his innovative Bill

"The bill is now limited to services or goods and work procured in combination with services. Despite the bill's amendments and the removal of the national social enterprise strategy and the duty on local authorities to engage with social enterprises, there is nothing to stop departments and local authorities doing their own strategies voluntarily. The social value section was the most important section of the bill. It is important that social value is included in as many contracts as possible. My bill is aimed at practically supporting socially responsible business practices. This is a step on a journey and I believe that the sector should be commended for taking a long term view of the benefits of this bill and not taking the view of 'all or nothing'.

Culture change across commissioning. It is about creating a culture change across commissioning in the public sector. My bill will be a strong message to commissioners that they should look at measurement tools such as SROI in order to better appreciate the benefits that can be gained by communities through smarter commissioning of services, goods and works. Talent commissioners will welcome the opportunity to look through a new prism at procuring services for their local communities. Commissioners are part of our communities too, and there is a lot of work going on around social auditing and SROI which will help give commissioners the tools necessary to absorb the provisions of the bill and innovate appropriately. It is up to individual commissioners, ultimately, to make the right decisions based on the information and guidance that they have available."

Due to procurement law, when it comes to measuring social value it needs to be decided on a case by case basis, depending on what is proportionate and relevant to the contract in question. While this gives scope for commissioners to be innovative at the pre-procurement stage, to work with social enterprises on defining what social value might consist of for that contract, it also prevents a top down definition being created. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for commissioners and I know that many social enterprises are already working on models and measuring tools that could be used by commissioners. Social enterprises themselves will have a big role in policing this and organisations such as Social Enterprise UK will play an important role also. My bill strengthens the hand of social enterprises bidding and opens the door to better collaboration between commissioners, communities and social enterprises.

To find out more abou the opportunities this bill brings come to our  Social Value - the New Frontier of Value For Money Conference - Birmingham 9th February 2012

The Conference is for Board members, Chief Executives, Finance Directors and Governance Officers

Cost £185 + VAT

For members of GO! The National Association of Governance Officers - there will be a discount of 5%

For the future planners amongst you, for bookings made before the end of December 2011 there will be a 15% discount
Click Here to let us show you how this can be a 'Cash Positive' investment!
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More on the conference

The conference aim is to have speakers on the following:
• Social Value and social enterprises the Social Value Bill
• Changes in Regulation in England what Economic Regulation and VFM means,
• The New Standard - How Housing Organisations can prepare,
• The opportunity behind Value for Money systems and methods,
• The Social Return on Investment - assessing your social impact and proving your 'Social Dividend' -
• Developing VFM Clusters embedding it locally
The conference is for board members, chief executives, finance directors and governance officers of housing associations and local authorities.

Draft Conference Agenda

AM

9.0 Registration, Tea and Coffee

9.30 Chair's Opening Remarks

9.45 Social Value Bill and procurement opportunities for Housing Associations and other Social Enterprises Chris White M.P promoter of the Social Value Bill ( Invited)

10.45 Coffee

9.46 Developing a new approach to VFM in the sector Keynote speaker Tenant Services Authority Keynote speaker

11.45 Developing Social Impact Assessments Hugh Laird Board Development Agency

12.0 Workshops
• VFM reporting - the pitfalls
• LEAN thinking - how it can help
• The Governance Angle - how hard do you drive this how do you involve tenants?
• Involving your business partners in your VFM drive
• Co Cos (Council Owned- Community Owned) Housing Associations and social value - the new model

12.45 Lunch

PM

1.30 Developing Value for Money Systems Ronnie Huss EPI International Key note speaker

2.15 Developing Local Value for Money Clusters and embedding it locally Key Note Speaker invited

2.45 More Facilitated afternoon workshops
• VFM reporting - the pitfalls
• LEAN thinking - how it can help
• The Governance Angle - how hard do you drive this how do you involve tenants?
• Involving your business partners in your VFM drive
• Co Cos (Council Owned- Community Owned) Housing Associations and social value - the new model

3.30 Tea and Close of Conference