Scotland - Public spending is increasingly expected to provide more and more value for money. Through compliance with the sustainable procurement duty, we aim to imbed sustainability into and generate maximum value for local communities from our procurement activities. Community benefit requirements are one way in which public bodies can contribute to the delivery of national outcomes and indicators within the National Performance Framework. This is now part of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
The sustainable procurement duty is part of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and includes a requirement for contracting authorities to consider how they can improve economic, social and environmental wellbeing through regulated procurements and to act in a way to secure this.
A community benefit requirement is one of a range of social clauses which can be included in public contracts. Community benefits in procurement are defined by the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 as:
‘a contractual requirement imposed by a contracting authority (a) relating to:
(i) training and recruitment, or
(ii) the availability of sub-contracting opportunities, or,
(b) which is otherwise intended to improve the economic, social or environmental wellbeing of the authority's area in a way additional to the main purpose of the contract in which the requirement is included.’
Specifically to the enhancement of communities, the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 has strengthened the focus on this. In particular, the following three major elements of the 2015 Act are:
Designated community planning partners must now include the whole range of public services that engage and work with communities. Partners include colleges, Police Scotland, health boards, enterprise agencies such as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Historic Environment Scotland, health and social care integration joint boards, national park authorities, regional strategic bodies in further and higher education, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Sports Council, Skills Development Scotland, regional transport partnerships and Visit Scotland. Community planning partnerships will be required to develop, publish and report annually on a local outcomes improvement plan (LOIP), which replaces the former single outcome agreement.
Within procurement, consideration of community engagement and planning will influence the procurement commodity strategy adopted and the design and delivery of public services, which may be contracted. The buyer must carefully consider potential positive and negative impacts that may arise as a consequence of procurement decisions and will need to be satisfied that the chosen supplier can perform the contract in a manner that provides the best possible outcomes while providing value for money. Possibly the key action to take, to both mitigate risks and maximise opportunities, is in how the requirement is framed and an assessment of the possible solutions. Consultation at the design stage of the service needed, as required by the 2014 Act, will significantly influence potential outcomes.
The public sector rarely designs services that have potentially negative impacts on communities but in times of budget restriction organisations are increasingly having to scale back some of their non-statutory activity. These changes should often be subject to consultation but this is not usually part of a procurement exercise. However there are some services that must be designed by local communities to be effective and to accurately meet needs. These might include provision of local healthcare, local facilities or education. Indeed as organisations are increasingly thinking about sharing services and co-locating there will be ever more changes. Some of these changes may provide an opportunity to enhance disadvantaged communities and engender greater community participation through changes in management, for example community libraries, support to launch meals services for the elderly, or community transport initiatives.
