Some measurement options and
issues around the social impact
of purchasing
Chris Ford
WLC & Legal Issues Workshop
4 Feb 2009
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Presentation Outline
• Some starting points
• Three measurement frameworks
– Social Return On Investment
– Social Accounts and Auditing
– Social Capital
• Some questions
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Starting point 1
“1.1 All new policies, programmes and projects, whether
revenue, capital or regulatory, should be subject to
comprehensive but proportionate assessment,
wherever it is practicable, so as best to promote the
public interest.”
“5.76 Costs and benefits that have not been valued
should also be appraised; they should not be ignored
simply because they cannot easily be valued...”
The Green Book, HMT. Emphasis added.
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Starting point 2
Registered Charities in England and Wales. 2005
Turnover
No of orgs
Under £10k
£10k-£100k
£100k-£1m
£1m-£10m
>£10m
95,526
48,781
18,258
4,331
570
Total
167,466
(Charity Commission, quoted in UK Voluntary Sector Almanac 2006. NCVO)
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Starting point 3
“There was strong evidence from TSOs that funders do
not link monitoring requirements proportionately to
size of organisation or level of funding...”
“TSOs should work more closely with funders and
commissioners to ensure a closer match between their
own information needs for learning and development,
and those required for compliance and accountability.”
Accountability and Learning; developing monitoring and evaluation in the
Third Sector, Ellis (2008) CES.
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Framework 1
Social Return On Investment
Stages of SROI
(from p22 Investing in Impact, Social Economy Scotland, undated)
1
2
3
4
5
6
Understand and plan
Stakeholder analysis
Outcome map
Key outcomes
Collect initial data
Impact map
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7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
SROI
Implement the plan and data collection
Projections
Analyse income and expenditure
Calculate SROI
Sensitivity analysis
Report
Verification
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Framework 2
Social Accounts and Audit
• Agency mission
• Objectives and Values
• Social book keeping records/indicators;
quantitative and qualitative against objectives
and values
• Social Audit. Book keeping collated in draft social
accounts which explain the performance of the
organisation against its objectives and its values.
Checked and verified by independent panel.
(from ‘SAA in 1 Page’ www.socialauditnetwork.org.uk)
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Pembrokeshire FRAME Ltd
Social Accounts 2006/7
Mission Statement: FRAME promotes social inclusion,
self worth and personal well being through supported,
meaningful occupation and education, particularly for
those with or recovering from mental ill health and/or
with a learning disability.
Values
• Professionalism and integrity
• Service provision
• Communication
• Confidentiality
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Objectives:
• Social inclusion
• Develop self worth and wellbeing
• Education and training
• Relief of poverty and social deprivation
• Environmental good practice
Services provided:
• Work practice
• Personal support and planning
• Training
• Re-use of household items
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Social Audit and Schools
• Roger Catchpole quoted in ‘Governance and
Accountability’ Gibbon, Fenwick McMillan.
Public Money & Management (Dec 08)
• UK inspection has moved towards social audit
practice. Before 2002 OFSTED inspection
“being done to them (schools) not with them.”
• Changes in inspection processes by 04 (when
article written) suggest possible relevance of
SAA.
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• “The shift is now strongly towards schools sharing the
ownership of the process with self-evaluation, an
aspect which has always been fundamental to social
auditing.”
• “The shift towards social audit practice has been to
start to put a much higher value on stakeholder
feedback and involvement.”
• “The report is seen as a vehicle for school
improvement, providing an agenda for development
that can be owned by the school.”
• “... Social objectives have slowly become important in
school inspections. For many years a schools record in
delivering on key social aims such as inclusiveness were
not at the forefront.”
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(Emphasis added)
Framework 3 - Social Capital
Proxy Indicators
• “Membership in local associations and networks. Using membership in local
•
•
associations as an indicator of structural social capital consists of counting the
associations and their members and measuring various aspects of membership
(such as internal heterogeneity) and institutional functioning (such as the extent of
democratic decision making)....
“Indicators of trust and adherence to norms. Measuring trust and adherence
to norms (cognitive social capital) requires asking respondents about their
expectations about and experiences with behavior requiring trust....
“An indicator of collective action. The provision of many services requires
collective action by a group of individuals. The extent to which this collective
action can be measured and is an indicator of underlying social cohesion....”
(Understanding and measuring social capital. Social Capital Initiative. Working
Paper 24, World Bank.)
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Key features of the model for inclusion of relevant
community benefits in procurement.
1) Examples of the sorts of community benefits that the delivery
agency may be able to bring as part of the contract delivery are
included in the specification document. These are identified
through engagement with ultimate beneficiaries early in the
commissioning cycle.
2) As part of the tender evaluation criteria, a percentage of the quality
aspect is allocated to community benefits.
3) Tenderers are invited, as part of the method statement or
equivalent, to express all community benefits, identifying the
relevance of these benefits to the subject matter of the
procurement and suggesting methods for evidencing their delivery.
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The following wording may be used;
“Please outline all community benefits your organisation can offer the
Council when providing this contract. Contractors should be aware that
only those community benefits that relate to the subject matter of the
contract itself can be taken into account in the evaluation of any tender.
Although the judgement of relevance is a matter for [procuring agency],
an innovative approach towards how those benefits relate to the subject
matter of the contract is encouraged.”
4) At the tender evaluation stage, the procuring agency or evaluation panel ensure
that the proposed benefits are relevant to the subject matter of the contract and
within the powers and policies of the agency. They are then assessed against the
evaluation criteria.
5) As part of the pre contract clarification and mobilization period (ie between the
awarding of the contract and the contract starting), the procuring authority and
delivery agency agrees the contract management arrangements. As part of this the
proposed monitoring and evaluation framework to verify the delivery of the
relevant community benefits is reviewed and if necessary refined.
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Issues and Questions - 1
• Premise that adequate emphasis on social aspect of
sustainable procurement will lead to increased access for TS
to delivery opportunities. This is questionable.
• Premise that assuring social aspect of sustainability requires
TS engagement. They can also be delivered by public and
private sector. What’s the translation between added value,
corporate citizenship, and corporate social responsibility?
• Beyond wellbeing duty what are the institutional drivers on
social aspect?
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Issues and Questions - 2
• Approach of Flexible Framework is broadly transferable
to address social issues. Is the prioritisation
methodology?
• If TSOs are recognised as an economic actor what
opportunities may there be in the Sub National Review?
• Supply chain management?
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Thanks for your time
Chris Ford
chrisford@gmx.co.uk
01388 528 256
14 Durham Dales Centre
Castle Gardens
Stanhope
Co Durham
DL13 2FJ
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