Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking across all Government departments to ensure social value is delivered in public procurement.

We are extending the application of the Social Value Act in central government to ensure all
major procurements explicitly evaluate social value where appropriate, rather than just
‘consider’. This will ensure central government contracts take account of areas as diverse as
the employment of disabled people, the use of social enterprises, the prevention of modern
slavery and the protection of the environment

We are developing a simple, systematic approach to bring departments up to a consistent,
minimum level of operating, and ensuring additional reporting does not add complexity or
cost to the procurement process, restrict markets or exclude small businesses from
government contracts

Government is committed to train all 4,000 commercial buyers on how to take account of
social value and procure successfully from social enterprises - training for government
commercial staff will help unlock more opportunities for voluntary, community and social
enterprise organisations. We will also require all departments to report on the social impact
of major new procurements.