This country has a great history of voluntary organisations delivering public services in their community. In the nineteenth century, long before the welfare state, charities were delivering schools, health care and housing services, part funded by the state with surpluses used to further social benefits. Some of our largest and most enduring charities started off as social campaigning organisations as well as providing services for disadvantaged people. In some respects; an early example of social enterprise.
So the role of the voluntary sector, community organisations and social enterprises delivering public services is far from a new one. Even more so today the opportunities and role for the sector to help reform public services delivery and social enterprise is crucial. Our focus is naturally geared towards improving social outcomes, without the diversion and added cost of predominantly driving maximum shareholder returns. We are already fully aligned with the needs of government commissioners who require providers to deliver cost effective, high-quality services that make a difference and achieve impact. As a result, social enterprises are proving to be highly successful in delivering public services in diverse areas including health and social care, children and young people's services and environmental services. But I believe there is scope for considerable expansion and we should be rising to the challenge.
Let's not forget that public service contracting is a competitive market and so the voluntary sector, community organisations and social enterprises need to sell themselves aggressively. The sector must also be confident and reassured by the fact it has clear advantages compared to commercial competitors. Our strong sense of social purpose and ethos is highly developed, whereas commercial businesses often devote huge resources to this with less than perfect results. This clear purpose together with a focus on improving outcomes provides a competitive edge which businesses struggle to match.
Certainly, government has a role to play – it has already changed its approach to vastly improve the procurement process, making it easier for organisations to tender for public contracts and help open up more business for the social enterprise sector. As part of its transparency drive, all new central government contracts over £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. In addition, government departments have published pipelines, business plans and commissioning intentions documents allow potential bidders to scan the horizon for suitable opportunities and prepare. Tender pre-qualification questionnaires for procurements under £100,000 have also been removed and Government is committed to reducing the time spent on procurements. Aside from Government removing unnecessary barriers to procurement, good commissioning is also about recognising the value which social enterprises can bring to public services delivery. However we know more can be done and I am keen to hear from voluntary organisations, community organisations and social enterprises about how else we can improve the process and make it easier for them to bid for contracts.
Of course all is not perfect but we should be positive. I see massive potential for more social enterprises to deliver public services to those who need them most. We can achieve this without compromising on our social values and sustainability. There is also a huge opportunity for the growth of social enterprise public services delivery through the mutualisation of public services. Government is committed to innovative public service delivery including the potential for public sector workers to take control of some services through spin-outs many of which will be social enterprises.
I urge social organisations to compete aggressively, innovate and be creative to grow the share of public services delivered by the sector. I hope social enterprises will come to me with their ideas and suggestions on how to help them to do more, as I'm committed to making sure their voice is heard at the highest levels and I can support the commissioning of effective public services from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.
Michael O'Toole is the government's new crown representative for the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector
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