Shout About Social Value
On Tuesday 17 November 2015 a special market place event was held at Shirehall in Shrewsbury aimed at local commissioners, to engage them and provide more information about social value and the voluntary and community sector services being provided within Shropshire, including Telford and Wrekin.
The landing and Council Chamber were literally buzzing with delegates and representatives, including commissioners from Shropshire Council, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, commissioning support unit and West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioners Office, the NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit, as well as local service providers.
The event was opened by Councillor Lee Chapman, Chair of Shropshire’s Social Value group. He was followed by a series of presentations from local and national experts in this field, providing an overview with examples of national best practice.
The 44 service provider organisations set up their displays, allowing commissioners the opportunity to find out more about the services they offer and the value they create within Shropshire.
An information pack was available on the day highlighting some key issues and data relating to social value, and this will soon be available to download from the VCS Voice website http://vcsvoice.org.
Social value is the process whereby “organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment.”
Presentations on the day included information on best practice, a local case study, and a commissioner’s perspective.
Lee Chapman, Shropshire Council’s group Chair, said:
“The event proved to be a great success, offering those who commission services and service providers a fantastic opportunity to find out more about how they can deliver value for money while strengthening their communities.
“Lots of ideas were shared and I hope that those who attended are able to build on these and include them in their procurement process.”
An added bonus was that, following a call for donations of items to make up Christmas parcels for care leavers, we had a massive response, and would like to say a huge “thank you” to everyone for their kind generosity. This will no doubt be greatly appreciated by the recipients in a few weeks’ time. The collection will continue throughout November – contact charlotte.green@shropshire.gov.uk if you have items to spare for this worthy cause.
