How Can Procurement Increase Health And Happiness?

By delivering social good, procurement has the ability to increase health and happiness.

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Procurious has been attending the CIPS Annual Conference in London.

Professor Olinga Ta’eed, Director – The Centre for Citizenship, Enterprise and Governance, who spoke at our own Big Ideas Summit back in April 2015, said that although financial value is still wonderful and still king, we’re more interested in social value. It is essential that procurement (as a function) converts sentiment into financial value.

The Social Value Act was passed in 2012 and allows local and national government to consider the social good offered by bidders during procurement exercises in addition to monetary value.

The Act has been designed to make it easier for charities to win public sector contracts, applies only to procurement exercises worth more than £113,000 if awarded by central government and the NHS and £173,000 if awarded by local councils.

But what do we mean by social value?

“Social value” is a way of thinking about how scarce resources are allocated and used. It involves looking beyond the price of each individual contract and looking at what the collective benefit to a community is when a public body chooses to award a contract. For instance, social value asks the question: ‘If £1 is spent on the delivery of services, can that same £1 be used, to also produce a wider benefit to the community?’

It is now becoming increasingly necessary for social enterprises to report on their social value. Social value should equal happiness – but in order to promote the good you’re going to need happy people, a happy company, and ultimately a happy world. We have to look at ourselves, and how much value we bring to the table as both individuals and as businesses.

 

Is there a true and fair view of social value?

Olinga points out that there are lots of handcrafted metrics out there, but you need to have a model T Ford. You need a benchmark – the benchmark is critical. It has to matter. You can be doing great things, but you need to be able to articulate it.

Hugh Chamberlain – EMEA CSR Procurement Head, Johnson & Johnson, followed Olinga and explained how his organisation was helping people to live happier lives through the products they bring to market.

Johnson & Johnson has the lofty ambition of ensuring people live longer, healthier, happier lives, it is estimated that around a billion people use its products every day.

Johnson & Johnson’s Credo (a common set of values unifying diverse business) states: “We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well”.

Hugh wanted to highlight the measurable social impact through procurement Johnson & Johnson was making. For instance it buys the goods and services it needs from organisations that would otherwise struggle to get a foot in the door – and also targets those organisations that employ people who are furthest from the job market.

What you need to know about social enterprises

Social enterprises are businesses that trade for a social and environmental purpose. At the time of writing there are 70,000 social enterprises in the UK, collectively contributing £24 billion to the economy. health and social care, but also in housing.

Social enterprises are growing faster than most SMEs, with more women leading and taking charge.

In-fact research from 2014, showed that that 38 per cent of social enterprises are led by women compared to 19 per cent of SMEs and 3 per cent of FTSE100 companies – and that 91 per cent of all social enterprise boards have at least one female director, compared to 51 per cent elsewhere.

Do you know how much social value can be achieved through buying your organisation’s services? How much emphasis (if any) do you put on delivering social value?