Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 17 of the Government’s Civil Society Strategy, what steps her Department has taken on exploring the application of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 to other areas of public decision-making.

As outlined in the Civil Society Strategy, this government is committed to enabling the generation of social value through a range of measures.

The Strategy is forward-looking and long-term. Our immediate priority is to expand use of the Social Value Act in central government. Through a joint DCMS and Cabinet Office programme, all major procurements by government departments will explicitly evaluate social value as appropriate, rather than just ‘consider’ it as currently, providing it does not add complexity or cost to the procurement process, restrict markets or exclude small businesses from government contracts.

Use of the Act will be extended to goods and works contracts, in addition to those for services and 4000 commercial buyers will be trained on how to take account of social value and procure successfully from a diverse range of organisations.

While the programme focuses on central government, the changes will have more of an impact due to the number of supplier markets we have in common with the wider public sector as well as the private sector.