Government appoints first social value ambassador

Government appoints first social value ambassador: White, who introduced the private members’ bill that became the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, will work with local authorities and the voluntary sector to raise awareness of the act, which came into force this year with cross-party support.

The aim of the act is to open up more public sector contracts to voluntary organisations, social enterprises and small businesses.

Under the legislation, local authority commissioners must consider how they can improve the social impact of their public service contracts before they start the procurement process.