Embedding social value to boost communities
Social value is not a new concept. Companies have been generating it for many years, and procurers have sought to achieve it by asking for ‘community benefits’. Since the arrival of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, the concept has a specific name and increased profile.
Social Value Briefing Note
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Social Value Briefing Note“Social” is one of the three dimensions of sustainability, alongside “economic” and “environmental”. There are areas of overlap between the three; so social value is also related to environmental and / or economic issues.
It’s a subject that many companies have addressed for years, badged as ‘community benefit’, ‘social sustainability’ or ‘corporate social responsibility’, but with the wider context and increased customer focus on social value, the School Partners prepared a briefing paper, aimed at their supply chain members, which explains what social value means to them, why it matters and how companies can generate social value. The briefing paper is intended to help supply chain members meet client expectations around social value. It touches on issues such as:
- Legislation
- Impact and context
- Metrics indicators
- Monetisation
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15 minutesSocial Value & Design of the Built Environment
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An introduction to Social Return on Investment
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Social Enterprise UK
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Social Value by Design
Social value briefing note
Download Appendix 1 to briefing paper
Download Appendix 2 to briefing paper
Download Designers and architects have been largely excluded from discussions around social value. Their decisions, however, have a significant impact on the social value that can be generated during the construction and operation of assets.
The Supply Chain Sustainability School convened a special interest group that collaborated on a ground-breaking document, “Social Value and Design of the Built Environment”. This identifies how social value can be optimised through each stage of the RIBA Plan of Works, and rail and road equivalents. Tools and case studies are provided to trigger ideas and discussion.
Two documents have been written by the School with the input of our Partners, specifically for designers, architects and others (e.g. within client organisations) who influence design.
“Social value is a key element of what the UK rail industry brings to the country. It is increasingly important that we develop a way of measuring this, in terms of reporting value to local stakeholders, the communities in which we work, and our customers. And also, to industry funders such as the DfT.”Anthony Perret, head of RSSB’s sustainable development program
RSSB Common Social Impact Framework for Rail
A framework to measure and report the social impacts of the UK’s rail industry was developed by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) in partnership with Action Sustainability, Arup, Simetrica and a working group of rail stakeholders, including representatives of the Department for Transport (DfT), Association of Community Rail Partnerships, Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, Skanska and Abellio.
This Common Social Impact Framework (CSIF) for Rail aims to provide a common, consistent basis for understanding and measuring social impacts by:
- Identifying the 10 key social impacts of rail
- Providing a library of goals, indicators, metrics and monetised values for each impact (some of which require a licence prior to use), from which stakeholders can select measures to best report both the positive (e.g. training of apprentices) and negative (e.g. increased noise and air pollution) impacts of activities
- Outlining approaches that can be used for qualitative reporting
The CSIF draws from existing social impact research, literature, tools and approaches and is tailored to the bespoke needs of the rail sector. It’s applicable across the whole life of franchises, projects and programmes, but it is not intended that any stakeholder should use all the measures and qualitative approaches
Peter Ives, Sustainability Manager for Skanska, has used the CSIF on the Wessex Alliance project to engage the wider project team and called the framework “an opportunity to start reporting social value on a much more consistent basis.”
Find out more:
Email Liz Holford for more information.