Today has seen my Private Member's Bill pass through the House of Lords. The Public Services (Social Value) Bill will shortly become the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2010-2012.
I hope that this will mark an important moment in the development of public services, giving a boost for thousands of social enterprises to bid for and deliver the services that we all use.
This bill is a major achievement for the sector and shows that politicians of all colours understand the importance that it will play in the years ahead and the shared determination of all parties to support its growth and development.
But now that it has been passed, we need to focus on the next steps. How do we convert the law into action on the ground?
There are two main things that public bodies (for example local authorities, police authorities, NHS Trusts) can do in order to prepare for this legislation. The first is to start seriously thinking about what social value could mean in the services that they deliver. This means getting commissioners to look at the additional benefits that could be created when designing public service contracts and developing plans for embedding social value considerations into the procurement process.
The second thing is to begin the process of consultation with local people and local organisations on what social value might mean for the public services they are commissioning and the best ways to build that value into contracts. True social value is not something that can be designed in a top down fashion and it needs to be a collaborative process. In this way we will be able to harness the innovation of the social enterprise sector and create services which have the biggest impact possible.
While there are some that may consider these things a 'burden', I believe that through greater consideration of social value in designing our services (particularly in the early stages) we can deliver better outcomes in the long term, which will reduce costs and improve quality.
Social enterprises also need to prepare if they are going to make maximum use of this bill.
The main way that his can be achieved is through greater evaluation and monitoring of the impact that they are making. In the same way that private sector businesses strive to show shareholders the impact that their investment is making, social enterprises must also ensure that they have the structures in place to collect data and show the social impact of their work.
This will mean different things to different organisations depending on the area that they are working in and the type of outcomes that they are seeking to achieve, however every organisation will still need to be able to demonstrate the social value that they are creating.
This legislation is therefore not only an opportunity for the sector, but also a challenge.
That being said, I am confident that social enterprises will be able to rise to the challenge and over the months and years ahead I will be continuing to work with the section to see how this law is working and the effect that it is having.
I have often said that this bill will need to be self-policing. It will be up to organisations on the ground to promote it, to monitor the way that public bodies implement it and to highlight improvements that could be made.
As part of this effort, Social Enterprise UK will shortly be producing a guide for public bodies and social enterprises on the bill, something that I highly recommend organisations read.
Of course, no law can change our public services overnight, and a culture change is needed alongside its provisions.
I hope that this bill will help build greater momentum behind the use of social enterprise in our public services whilst creating more local, more accountable and more effective public services.
Chris White is the Conservative MP for Warwick and Leamington
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