BSSEC » Social value

Green Paper aims to ‘transform’ public procurement

December 16, 2020

New plans to radically reform public procurement regulations have been published in the Green Paper ‘Transforming public procurement‘ (Dec 2020, CP 353). The end of the Transition Period offers an “historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regi

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UK churches create £12.4bn a year in social value

October 19, 2020

Exercise classes, support for asylum seekers and refugees, community meals, parent-toddler groups, food banks, employment support and job-hunting, credit unions, benefits advice — there are over 40,000 churches in the UK and together they host over 35,000 community projects. To

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Roots HR: trading surplus will extend free advice line for smaller SEs during Covid-19

April 23, 2020

BSSEC member Roots HR CIC, the specialist provider of HR support for the social sector, is using its trading surpluses to extend its free HR advice line services for the smallest social sector employers. Social sector employers with income of under £50k pa can now receive up to one ho

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West Midlands public sector organisations join forces for social value event for the VCSE sectors

September 16, 2019

West Midlands Combined Authority, Birmingham City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Council, Walsall Metropolitan Council and the Social Value Portal invite social enterprises and voluntary and community organisations in the region to join them at an event aimed at promoting a bette

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Graduate Planet CIC funds pioneering environmental workshop for 60 schoolchildren

March 19, 2019

We’ve written before here about Graduate Planet CIC, the specialist social enterprise recruitment consultancy which uses its surpluses to support environmental action. Its founder Kate Evans recently worked with energy data specialists SPS International in Warwick to help the co

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The changing face of social enterprise — creating social value through inter-trading

May 10, 2018

We wrote recently about Graduate Planet CIC in one of our ‘changing face of social enterprise‘ stories. It’s a new-start social enterprise recruitment consultancy which uses its surpluses to support environmental action. Its founder Kate Evans was one of the spe

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Developing the social value agenda — social enterprises and strategic partners have many concerns in common

December 06, 2017

Since 2012 BSSEC has been working to support practical implementation of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 — what has become known in shorthand simply as ‘social value’. This work has been made possible by financial support from The Barrow Cadbury Trust, which we gratefully

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Social Value Portal launches national framework for measuring social value

November 21, 2017

A group of us were at the first national conference on social value last week. Held in Birmingham and organised by the Social Value Portal, this was a huge event with around 200 delegates. One of the things we were most interested in seeing was the National Framework for Social Value

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Social enterprise: all aboard — new think-piece from Hempsons & BSSEC

October 09, 2017

It’s always a pleasure when old friends stay in touch — even more when they contact you and say, “I’ve got a great idea for something we can write together to go up on your website,” which is what happened to me a week or two back. I was contacted by my o

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National Social Value Conference 2017 #Bridging the Gap — Birmingham

September 27, 2017

This, just in from the Social Value Portal: The National Social Value Conference 2017 #Bridging the Gap on the 14th November is taking place in Birmingham. It is an important annual event and anyone with an interest in Social Value would benefit from attending. Andy Street, Mayor of W

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New SEUK research on use of social value in health finds only 13% of CCGs making ‘highly committed, active’ use of the legislation

May 26, 2017

Back in March 2016 we published this post in which we detailed our own findings regarding the poor utilisation of the social value Act in health commissioning. We found social value similarly absent in STPs (Sustainability & Transformation Plans). It is encouraging

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Birmingham City Council revises Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility and supporting policies

April 24, 2017

Birmingham City Council has made some recent changes to its Social Value Policy, The Living Wage Policy and the Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility (BBC4SR). The details (and downloads) can all be found on the ‘guidance’ page of the Birmingham B

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“Promising Practice” — NHS England publishes paper on STPs and the third sector

April 03, 2017

We’ve written extensively about health and social value on this blog, and more recently, with specific reference to Birmingham and Solihull, have been exploring the role that NHS sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) should be playing in helping to embed socia

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Transformation and Social Value: Social Prescribing Keynote

March 25, 2017

by Mark Ellerby

Dudley, NHS, psiams, social enterprise, Social Prescribing

PSIAMS Systems will be hosting a data focussed conference during City Drive Week in Birmingham. The event will feature a range of presentations and workshops on how data is transforming the way the Voluntary and Social Enterprise Sector are responding to change and the needs of commis

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Transformation & Social Value Event – 5th April 2017

February 20, 2017

by Mark Ellerby

NHS, psiams, social impact, social value

Transformation and Social Value taking place in Birmingham on 5th April 2017 is an opportunity to hear from the charities leaders and social enterprises in the West Midlands who have embraced new technology and data to empower their organisations to work differently and demonstrate th

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Locality says “Keep it local — for better services”

February 09, 2017

Locality, the national network of neighbourhood development organisations, has just published How to Keep it Local — A Five step guide for councillors and commissioners. As part of its national Keep It Local campaign, Locality is calling on councillors and commissioners to

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Birmingham and Solihull draft ‘STP’ published

October 24, 2016

Further to this post, in which we wrote about the implications of the Sustainability & Transformation Plans (STPs) for the NHS, some will be interested to hear that Birmingham and Solihull’s draft STP has been published today. There is background on the STP and a statement f

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A free presentation to help you identify your social value — and report it

September 14, 2016

The evidence from our work indicates that some social enterprises are struggling to identify the full social value of their work. Others are under-reporting the social value they are already achieving. We have put together a short guide to help you examine your contracts, services and

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Social value and the Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility — consultation

September 05, 2016

The Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility (BBC4SR) has become the primary tool that Birmingham City Council uses to drive social value throughout its supply-chain. Some 350 companies are Charter signatories with many more expected. Birmingham City Council is currently

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Identifying social value — perhaps this approach can help your enterprise?

September 02, 2016

When Lord Young reviewed implementation of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, his report (February 2015) concluded that local authorities had made significantly more progress than health bodies in utilising social value. Our own research at that time confirmed this view. But

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BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL SOCIAL ECONOMY CONSORTIUM C.I.C., trading as BSSEC. A community interest company registered in England and Wales with company no. 07992674. Registered office: c/o Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES | All rights reserved | Copyright 2013-BSSEC | Created by Citizen Click