Member Article

Act to help North East SME’s win public sector contracts under review

The North East Federation of Small Business will join a review team of the government’s Social Value Act, which aims to transform the way taxpayers’ money is spent on public services, looking at the potential for the Act to be extended further.

The ground-breaking Act was introduced in 2013 and the review will be led by Lord Young, the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Enterprise, supported by the Federation of Small Businesses, Chris White MP, Hazel Blears MP, and Michael O’Toole (Crown Representative for the Voluntary Sector and shortly to be CEO of Mentor UK).

The Act currently requires public commissioners to think about whether they can secure added economic, social or environmental benefits for their local area when they are buying services.

Since it came into force, the government has been supporting the Act’s implementation, offering support both to providers and to commissioners who want to use it to put value at the heart of what they do.

Currently it applies only to service contracts over the EU threshold, at the pre-procurement stage. The review will help to determine if it should be widened (for instance, to cover contracts for goods and works as well as services) and how this can be done in a way that continues to support SMEs and VCSEs to bid for public contracts.

The review team will be considering evidence from a range of sources over the coming months and will look to report on their findings in early 2015.

The legislation can be viewed here.

FSB’s North East Regional Chairman, Ted Salmon, said: “I’m delighted that the FSB in the North East has been asked to sit on this Review team.

“The Social Value Act will help small businesses and social enterprises win more contracts from the public sector across the North East.

“We have led the way in ensuring that this is happening in the region through our work with Durham County Council to demonstrate the practical ways that local authorities can use the Act to achieve this.

“We look forward to working with the Review team to ensure that we embed this right across the country.”