Social Value Leaders’ Summit 2026

Welcome to the Social Value Leaders' Summit 2026! We have a packed agenda today, designed to bring to light key developments in social value through expert-led panel discussions and speeches. A key part of the day will be this afternoon's roundtables, which will provide an interactive forum for attendees to share their own experiences. Here's our agenda for the day: 9:45: Introduction by Nancy Park - Social Value Leader at PwC 9:50 - 10:00: Our facilitator for the day, Sarah Crawley Beaumont OBE, will run through the planned schedule Procurement Act year one - from promise to practice 10:00 - 10:15 Josh Babarinde OBE MP Josh will look at what's changed one year after the passing of the Procurement Act in our opening speech. Keynote speech - the common good economy 10:15 - 10:45 Professor Mariana Mazzucato - Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London Professor Mazzucato will ask the question of what does ‘good’ looks like in economics and whether you create social value without a sense of the common good? Mariana advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth and has been listed in GQ’s Top 50 most influential people in Britain, Wired’s 25 leaders shaping the future of capitalism, and by the New Republic as one of the 3 most important thinkers about innovation. The national picture – government's vision for social value 10:30 - 11:15 Claire Dove CBE - Crown Representative for the VCSE sector Jo Jarvis - Procurement Director, National Highways Robert Vaughan - SME and VCSE Champion for the Department of Transport Jo Pritchard OBE - Social Enterprise UK Board member Find out more about the government's vision for social value from the VCSE Crown Representative, Claire Dove. You'll also learn how two leading social value practitioners are responding to the new procurement framework and working with VCSEs. The discussion will provide essential insights into emerging policy frameworks and strategic priorities, and will also explore whether the ambition and enthusiasm for social procurement described in last year’s Procurement Act has motivated procurement teams at national and local levels to enthusiastically target contracts offering more social value. 11:15 - 11:30: COFFEE The impact economy and public procurement 11:30 - 12:15 Dame Patricia Hewitt - Former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Caron Dunlop - Head of Social Value, Mott MacDonald Peter Holbrook CBE - Group Chief Executive, Social Enterprise Coalition Gayle Monk - Anthony Collins Solicitors (Chair) This expert panel will look in depth at how procurement can be used as a tool to drive the impact economy - a timely discussion following the launch of the Government's new Office for the Impact Economy. 12:15 - 13:00: LUNCH Roundtables 13:00 - 13:40 - Rountable 1: Barriers to embedding social value – what's getting in the way? 13:45 - 14:30- Roundtable 2: Accountability gaps – why does social value get lost after contract award? Attendees will be split into groups for discussions based on the above topics. It's a chance to share your own experiences of social value, point out examples of best practice and openly discuss the barriers faced in embeddeding social value across commissioning and procurement. Your workshop groups will have been allocated to you at the start of the day and correspond to the stickers on your name badge. 14:30 - 14:45: COFFEE From barriers to breakthroughs - responding to what the room told us 14:45 - 15:15 Clare Connolly - Fusion 21 Gareth Hart - Plymouth Social Enterprise Network Alison Ramsey - Scape Kate Welch - Social Enterprise Acumen The chairs of the roundtables will feedback key findings from both sessions. Afternoon keynote 15:15 - 15:25 Mete Coban MBE - Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy New ways of funding social value 15:25 - 16:00 Matthew Conroy - Head of Impact Propositions, Unity Trust Bank Karl Harder - Director, Abundance Jovan Owusu-Nepaul - Head of Public Affairs, Social Enterprise UK Local authorities are getting creative in finding ways to fund community projects that create social value by borrowing money from local people and paying them interest.  Find out more in this, our final session of the day. 16:00 - 16:15 - Closing Remarks 16:15 - 17:00 - Networking This agenda is subject to change The Social Value Leaders' Summit is supported by: