Ahead of the curve on healthcare – social enterprises and the Government’s 10 Year Plan

Corporate supply chain spend offers significant potential gains in social and environmental outcomes. However, if we are to fully realise the potential of social procurement for societal and environmental benefit, there needs to be a better understanding of how it fits in with the ‘bigger picture’ of sustainability in procurement, and of corporate behaviour. We must move beyond understanding social procurement’s ‘why and benefits’ and reposition it as a change agenda. Therefore, we need a comprehensive outlook on what that ‘change’ should look like, and how it might be delivered. This report summarises findings from a 3-year PhD by Dr Josephine Chikwana, that maps understanding of the status quo, of gaps, and provides future recommendations.

The year 9 report for the Buy Social Corporate Challenge revealed a landmark surge in procurement spending with social enterprises, as 33 big businesses together spent £179 million on goods and services, a 46% year-on-year increase, the highest since the initiative launched in 2016. In total, corporate partners have spent £656 million with 2,100 social enterprise suppliers, creating nearly 6,000 jobs. The premise of the Challenge is simple: working with corporates to use their core business spend to create positive social and environmental impact. Read on to find out more about the transformative impact of social procurement.

This deep dive report looks into diversity within social enterprises, with a focus on women-led and ethnic-minority-led businesses. It shows that social enterprises lead the way when it comes to representation on staff and leadership teams. More social enterprises are led by women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds than is the case for the wider business community. The report also looks at how these groups find access to finance.