Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to require public authorities to have regard to economic, social and environmental well-being in connection with public services contracts; and for connected purposes.
Citationc. 3
Introduced byChris White (Commons)
Lord Newby (Lords)
Territorial extent England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent8 March 2012
Commencement31 January 2013
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.[1] The Act calls for all public sector commissioning to factor in ("have regard to") economic, social and environmental well-being in connection with public services contracts. It requires that all public bodies in England and Wales, including Local Authorities, and NHS organisations to consider how the services they commission and procure which are expected to cost more than the thresholds provided for in the Public Contracts Regulations might improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the area. Third Sector organisations such as Social Enterprise UK pushed for the introduction of the legislation.[2] In early drafts the Bill had a far greater focus on increasing public spending with social enterprises. The final text of the Act is focused on ensuring public spending leverages value in all three recognized domains or pillars of Sustainable Development, or the triple bottom line.

Passage

The Bill's original title was the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill.[3] It was presented to the House of Commons in 2010 by Chris White MP, the Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington as a Private Members' Bill. It received Royal Assent in March 2012.

Implementation

Lord Young, the Prime Minister's Adviser on Enterprise, conducted a review of the Act,[4] which examined how the Act has been performing in its first 2 years. The report contains a number of case studies, practical guidance on how to apply the Act, and a framework and principles for measurement.[5] A case studies which used social return on investment calculations and one which involved service users in grant award decision-making were quoted and considered "helpful" by the government.[5]

Procurement Policy Note 10/12 [6] providing advice for public sector staff was produced when the Act came into force in January 2013.[5] The note confirms that contracts for goods and works, and contracts below the relevant monetary thresholds in the Public Contracts Regulations, are not covered by the Act.[7]

Government also conducted a one-year on update [8] on the Act.[5]

Research published by Social Enterprise UK in 2016 divided implementing local authorities into several groups: some had interpreted the legislation as "empowering" and taken its objectives "to heart", some very actively, others more cautiously; a further group had demonstrated compliance with a relevant policy document but had not yet enacted this in practice, and there was another group of local authorities described by Social Enterprise UK as "bystanders" with at that time "no social value policy and no social value activity".[9] Later research by National Voices and Social Enterprise UK also found that only 13% of clinical commissioning groups demonstrate that they are actively committed to pursuing social value in their procurement and commissioning decisions. Only 13% of sustainability and transformation plans mentioned the idea.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
  2. ↑ "Social Value Act". Social Enterprise UK. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  3. ↑ UK Parliament, Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill, 30 June 2010, accessed 30 May 2021
  4. ↑ "Social Value Act review - report". www.gov.uk. Cabinet Office. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Social Value Act: information and resources - GOV.UK". UK Cabinet Office. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2017. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
  6. ↑ "Procurement Policy Note – The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 – advice for commissioners and procurers". www.gov.uk. Cabinet Office. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Cabinet Office, Procurement Policy Note – The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 – advice for commissioners and procurers. Information Note 10/12 20 December 2012, page 4, accessed 19 January 2023
  8. ↑ "The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012: One Year On" (PDF). www.gov.uk. Cabinet Office. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  9. ↑ Social Enterprise UK (2016), Procuring for Good: How the Social Value Act is being used by local authorities, p. 3, accessed 2 November 2023
  10. ↑ "Commissioners 'failing' to consider wider societal issues". OnMedica. 26 May 2017. Archived from the original on 26 May 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
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