Welcome to our world
Rachel Honey-Jones sees growing evidence that the i2i approach pioneered
in housing is the accepted way of delivering community benefits
i2i was set up in 2006 to maximise
the opportunities for local community
regeneration. We have helped the
housing sector secure around £2 billion
of additional investment in housing and
our Can Do Toolkits are now widely
used by housing and regeneration
organisations. This approach has ensured
job creation and training opportunities
have been developed through the use of
social clauses within contracts.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing and
we have encountered some resistance
along the way. However, the merits of this
approach are now being recognised in a
number of initiatives by government and
others – welcome to our world!
Let’s start with the Public Services
(Social Value) Act 2012. This came into
force on January 31, 2013, and explicitly
states that all public service contracts must:
‘consider —
(a) how what is proposed to be procured
might improve the economic, social
and environmental well-being of the
relevant area, and
(b) how, in conducting the process of
procurement, it might act with a view
to securing that improvement.’
As Baroness Stedman-Scott noted
during a House of Lords debate: ‘The
opportunity that the Bill gives to us is to
give as much credence to social value as
to cost. If we do not do this, then we end
up knowing the cost of everything and the
value of nothing.’
This approach captured in the Can Do
Toolkit 1 guidance has led to 3,765 job and
training opportunities. Our Can Do Toolkit
2 on SME friendly procurement has helped
smaller businesses and social enterprises
to tender and be awarded contracts, which
has had a significant positive effect on local
economies in Wales.
The European Union has also made
important proposals to change their
approach through a draft circular aimed at
Modernising European public procurement
to support growth and employment. This
includes the following statement:
‘Given the current budgetary restrictions
and economic difficulties in most member
states, public procurement policy must,
more than ever, ensure the optimal use
of funds in order foster growth and job
creation… the proposed reform aims to
facilitate a qualitative improvement in the
use of public procurement by ensuring
greater consideration for social and
environmental criteria such as life-cycle
costs or the integration of vulnerable and
disadvantaged persons.’
There is a potential impact if
‘vulnerable and disadvantaged persons’
includes the long-term unemployed
who have other barriers to work. Social
enterprises or businesses may in the
future qualify for supported factories
or business status making it easier for
contracting authorities to reserve contacts
for them under Article 19 European
regulations which allows:
‘the ability to reserve the right to
participate in tender procedures to
supported factories and businesses – i.e.
no other provider may tender.’
The EU directive proposals also propose
simplifying the rules and procedures to
make them more flexible, which would
in turn encourage SME access to public
procurement.
The role of i2i was recognised in the
McClelland Report commissioned by the
Welsh Government, which celebrates and
encourages the use of social value through
procurement:
‘The Can Do Toolkit offered by i2i is
an extremely interesting development. Its
seemingly ground breaking approach has
been used primarily by social landlords
but its application to other areas of
procurement may also be appropriate… The
priority given to capturing positive social
impacts from public procurement through
the ‘community benefits’ programme is
certainly being rewarded and with some
outstanding benefits being delivered.’
Minister for finance Jane Hutt AM, who
commissioned the report, has endorsed the
i2i approach a number of times stating:
‘…training and employment of
disadvantaged people and use of local
supply chains…has been used with great
effect in housing through the Can Do
Toolkit.’
Need support? Happy to help!
i2i offers a range of support
services to housing and
regeneration organisations
including:
- designing community
benefits into your investment
programmes from start to finish - involving tenants, staff and
board members in design and
delivery - capturing lessons sessions
focussing in on particular
problems and identifying
solutions
If you need more information,
please contact
rachel.morton@cih.org