Social enterprises make the case to MPs on the importance of supporting local social enterprise ecosystems 

Oxford brewery, bakery, and hospitality organisation Tap Social Movement is thrilled to announce that as of Monday, 8 September, it has been listed in 228 Waitrose supermarkets across the UK. Its year-round core beers Home and Dry (4.2% Hazy Pale Ale) and Time Better Spent (5.1% Juicy IPA) will be available in all 228 outlets, with Major Figures (4% Lager) and Jobsworth (3.4% Gluten-Free Pale Ale) also stocked in an additional six Oxfordshire markets. "We're so grateful for the opportunity to put Tap Social and two of our best-selling beers in front of Waitrose shoppers across the UK," says Marketing Manager Brian Spencer. "We hope that it helps spark more awareness and conversation about the UK's criminal justice system, and that more businesses see how our social mission of offering training and employment for people from prison can also work for them and benefit society at large." Tap Social's Waitrose listing follows news in August of earning its first stars at the prestigious Great Taste Awards. Time Better Spent earned two stars -one of only 15 IPAs and pale ales in England to earn this distinction, while Jobsworth earned one star.  To date, Tap Social has created more than 100,000 hours of fairly paid employment for people from prison. Learn more about its mission at tapsocialmovement.com. 

Our Head of Public Affairs, Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, looks into what the latest government reshuffle might mean for social enterprises. Since the Labour government came into office, we have begun to see formal and informal realignments within our democracy and politics. Unquestionably, this will have an impact on the direction of our sector, its future and how social enterprises - with government support - respond to the challenges of today. To anyone interested in the affairs of Whitehall, it won’t have gone amiss that the government has focused on growth throughout the last 14 months. However, with the seemingly unstoppable rise of Reform UK, the public conversation has quickly shifted to the topic of immigration.    Reshuffles are a fact of political life and it’s tempting to speculate about the reasons for the comings and goings of ministers.  At SEUK, our role hasn’t changed: how we can best advocate for our sector? How do we ensure that social enterprises continue to grow? How can they command political support from those in local and national government? And how can we ensure that the broader policy environment recognises the contributions our sector makes to the British economy?    Since the general election, we have strengthened our relationship with Georgia Gould MP, who has now moved from working on public procurement and social value in the Cabinet Office to a new role in the Department of Education. We have collaborated with Alex Norris MP, who is now in the Home Office, and look forward to continuing our work with Department of Culture, Media and Sport Ministers Lisa Nandy MP and Stephanie Peacock MP, whilst warmly welcoming Ian Murray MP to the team. Whilst our work will not change, the same cannot be said for the direction of travel for the government.    This reshuffle provides a deeper insight into the political thinking behind Starmer’s vision for the country. The Birmingham Ladywood MP, Shabana Mahmood has been promoted to Home Secretary, and she has already suggested she’ll do whatever it takes to grip the crisis of boat landings on the English coast.   As the new chief secretary to the Prime Minister, Darren Jones MP is now Starmer’s right-hand man in No10, which should only aid our social enterprise cause, given SEUK met with him before the summer recess. After citing Dame Anita Roddick, founder of ethical business The Body Shop as an inspiration in announcing his new role as the Business Secretary, we’re also optimistic that Peter Kyle MP will prove warm to our sector. Roddick’s widower Gordon has strong social enterprise ties, having helped start The Big Issue and later Divine Chocolate.    Rather like a game of chess, with this reshuffle the government is attempting to be more strategic towards its vision of growth, its command of the borders and its agility in the face of tough opposition. Social enterprises are a readymade key to unlock growth across our country, doing so equitably, with community and with purpose. In the coming months, SEUK will face the political changes coming and continue to leverage our network and relationships, building on the advocacy work of the last year. 

Social Enterprise UK's Director of Research and Policy, Emily Darko, looks at the government's consultation on procurement and social value, what its proposed changes may mean for social enterprises and how they can be improved, arguing that key to everything is a change in culture. At Social Enterprise UK, we’ve long pushed for a public procurement landscape that can better benefit from the wide and deep value that social enterprise delivery brings. In the face of ever-growing complexity and need, it has felt for some time that every step forward in social value or progressive commissioning is countered by lack of capacity, understanding, risk appetite or appropriate investment, and confusion of measurement or tracking. Government’s consultation on procurement and social value, led by Georgia Gould MP, closed on Friday 5 September. It's nice to have a consultation, but I pity the civil servants on the receiving end of this latest approach to improving procurement! What needs to change in commissioning and procurement is culture. Existing legislation broadly allows for all the good practice this consultation implies. The main caveat to this being social value – social value legislation needs more teeth. It needs to cover works and goods. It needs to be mandated.    Reporting, transparency and accountability could help government actors create space to understand and engage with voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations (VCSE’s) beyond the often ‘add-on’ approach at the moment. More is needed to help this work – oversight and scrutiny, training and capacity building, peer learning and best practice sharing. Building on the Contract Readiness Fund commissioned by DCMS in 2022 would be a step in the right direction. And mandating minimum VCSE spend and minimum social value weighting in tenders, alone, is insufficient. But does set a higher minimum bar to start from. The consultation alludes to, but doesn’t clearly set out a vision for change. Better commissioning approaches need co-production, trust, risk-taking and learning. Minimum standards are a start. Options around reserved contracts are a useful move towards commissioners identifying best solutions. But in a context of stretched budgets and stretched staff, improved practice requiring headspace and brains coming together for solutions is key. In more detail, this is how we see the government’s current consultation on procurement can add value: Mandating targets and accountability: a step in the right direction To ensure true accountability and drive meaningful change, government’s proposal to mandate large contracting authorities with a spend of over £100m to set and publish three-year targets for spending with SMEs and VCSEs  should also apply to large suppliers who are recipients of major contracts. 50% of government spend with SMEs is indirect, so it feels a huge missed opportunity (assuming similar demographics within VCSEs) to only focus on direct spend. Targets and reporting alone are not enough. They must be accompanied by a comprehensive strategy to support the sustained growth of VCSE and SME provision. This includes pre-commissioning collaboration, long-term contracting to provide stability, and reserved contracts to open up opportunities. A co-designed social value framework, developed in partnership with social enterprises and sector representatives, is also crucial to ensure that targets are meaningful and deliver genuine public benefit. Transparency as a foundation for change We strongly support the push for greater transparency in the procurement process. Extending the requirements of Section 70 of the Procurement Act to publish information on all payments, including those on below-threshold contracts, can help VCSEs understand where opportunities lie, both as direct suppliers and within larger supply chains. It would also allow external stakeholders to scrutinise data, providing insights into the representation and impact of different suppliers. For this data to be truly useful, it must be accompanied by a clear data framework and methodology, particularly for identifying and tracking social enterprises. Additionally, without meaningful mandates or repercussions for non-compliance, there is a risk that this transparency requirement could become purely a burden on contracting authorities, rather than a tool for positive change. Beyond competition: prioritising quality in people-focused services We agree that there should be flexibility to award contracts for "people-focused services" without competition – as we see the potential of collaborative commissioning through the pioneering work of local government in places such as Greater Manchester, working with social enterprises and coops to overcome profiteering and declining quality of provision in children’s residential services. Current procurement frameworks often fail to deliver cost-effective, high-quality service provision, marginalising VCSEs that are best placed to deliver on these needs. However, simply allowing for this flexibility is not enough to change culture and practice. Clear guidance for commissioners, helping them to adapt to less rigid approaches and to effectively identify and retain the best service providers is needed. How this permissive framework will be used and external regulation to prevent an ongoing cycle of poor-quality provision must be embedded. Flexibility should extend beyond social care to other critical areas such as education and training, health care, and employment support. Strengthening social value: mandating and broadening scope The Social Value Act needs refreshing to mandate social value weighting and delivery, and to expand it to include works and goods, not just services. The consultation’s focus is on a minimum 10% weighting and specific measurement metrics for social value criteria. From our freedom of information work last year, we know that many local authorities don’t consistently achieve this at present. But it is a narrow interpretation of social value's full potential. A holistic measurement approach is needed, one that recognises the deep and embedded social value that social enterprises deliver as part of their core mission. For example, a social enterprise that employs individuals who are furthest from the job market may be incorrectly scored lower than a large for-profit company offering a short-term apprenticeship scheme, if the framework is not carefully designed. Mandatory social value audits for public bodies and large businesses every three years, along with the appointment of an accountable officer for social value in every public body could help. National and local government spend billions each year buying goods and services – and their choices of provider affect whether or not our waterways have raw sewage in them, whether we live in safe housing, our children’s education, support for those of us with disabilities, and care for our most vulnerable friends and family members. Who delivers these services matters. Government can’t do it all. But government can facilitate collaborative, productive ways to ensure that those who do provide public services do so well. And that we get beyond binary arguments about insourcing vs outsourcing to consider new models and approaches that deliver the best possible public services. We welcomed Georgia Gould’s progressive approach and proactive engagement to hear from us and others on what’s needed - and look forward to working with her newly-appointed successor. A consultation is a welcome step. But it needs to sit within the context of a vision for public service delivery that understands and embeds VCSE suppliers as a vital value add. A vision that facilitates all involved to collaborate towards better outcomes for all of us in our daily lives. You can read our full response to the consultation here.