BSSEC CIC: Sharing Social Economy Opportunities
2nd December 2022
BSSEC CIC is sharing three varied, key national initiatives that support social economy growth across the UK. West Midlands organisations are encouraged to consider how to engage with these opportunities that focus on social mobility, circular economy innovation in the fashion and textiles sector and the wider VCSE sector.
1 Social Mobility Commission: new Employer Advisory Group (EAG)
The Employer Advisory Group has been put in place to drive social mobility in the workplace in the UK and support the Commission’s employer focused programme of work.
The role of the EAG will be to:
》Influence the future direction of Commission projects focused on employers, including stress-testing and providing honest, relevant feedback.
》Build a collective awareness and understanding of the landscape and trends, including open discussions on the challenges faced in their own organisation and/or industry.
》Learn from each other’s experiences, share best practice, and partner with the SMC on what resources employers and industries need to support social mobility.
》Share networks and connections across the EAG, to support projects and delivery.
2 UK Research & Innovation: Circular Fashion Programme grant funding
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £4 million for a demonstration of innovative technologies, services and processes for the UK’s fashion and textile sector.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to invest up to £4 million in an innovation project. This will be to develop and demonstrate closed-loop recycling for the fashion and textile sector at scale. This is the initial activity of a £15 million UKRI Circular Fashion Programme.
The aim of this competition is to fund a research and development activity demonstrator. This will demonstrate new technologies, services, processes and business models capable of addressing the recycling and sorting challenges, as part of the UK’s fashion and textile sector and their direct supply chains.
Proposals must be for a multi-disciplinary, collaborative, demonstration project.
3 Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport: VCSE Grant Readiness Fund
Following a competitive process, DCMS are pleased to announce that the VCSE Contract Readiness Fund will be awarded to a School for Social Entrepreneurs (consortium lead), Social Enterprise UK and Voice 4 Change England ‘Contract Readiness Pathway’ consortium.
Over 75% of VCSEs (Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises) deliver public services where they are based, with strong links to and knowledge of that locality. Their expertise and connection to local areas ideally place them to create responsive, efficient and trusted public services, but despite the value that VCSEs bring to public services, they only account for around 5% of government spend on contracts.
An independent study commissioned by DCMS highlighted that the VCSE sectors face a variety of barriers to participating in public procurement. To address these and increase the opportunities for VCSEs in public procurement, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) launched the VCSE Contract Readiness Fund grant competition in September.
The consortium will be awarded up to £900,000 across 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.