Liverpool City Region and ULMS collaboration to shape future Social Value Framework
Research by experts at the Management School’s Centre for Sustainable Business (CSB) has supported the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) in shaping their future Social Value Framework.
With changes in legislation now requiring a minimum weighting of 10% to be explicitly assigned to social value in all public procurement tenders, the research has helped define social value for the Liverpool City Region’s specific communities and contexts.
Lead by CSB Director, Professor Jo Meehan, the research primarily focused on a series of innovative participatory ‘futures’ workshops, where LCRCA decision makers constructed multiple ‘probable’ and ‘plausible’ futures.
This allowed them to ‘step into and look around’ to explore and challenge how social value might impact the region in 2032, in each of those scenarios.
Holistically analysing the complex and interacting factors at play in desirable future scenarios, helped LCRCA reveal deep-rooted assumptions, as well as the tasks, policies, responsibilities and actions needed today to shape preferable and socially equitable futures.
Collaboration between LCRCA Social Value Policy Team and CBS researchers has resulted in a Social Value Framework and Policy 2022, with new insights into how social value should be embedded into policies and processes to maximise its impact across the region.
“Social value means the Combined Authority getting a ‘bigger bang for its buck’ than simply the lump sum we invest in any given project,” said LCR Metro Mayor, Steve Rotheram.
“Our new Social Value Framework will guide how we invest our resources, so that we grasp every possible opportunity to deliver a fairer, more socially just City Region, where no one is left behind.”
LRCA Chief Executive, Katherine Fairdough, also highlighted the value of the new policy, and its potential to improve the wellbeing of the region’s communities and residents:
“It can really help to understand what's needed, and connect with our residents and the people who use our services, so that the way we design our services meets their requirements.
“Across the world people are really getting their heads around social value, investment for social gain, equality, diversity and inclusion, and also net zero, and there's a really clever way of joining up those agendas.
“The CSB team share my passion for equality, diversity and inclusion, and those really strong values that the city region has around promoting inclusive growth.”
“The problem with social value is trying to tie it down and measure it, and trying to understand how it affects people's everyday lives,” said Professor Meehan.
“There's a number of key takeaway messages from this research.
“Social value is everybody's job; we all have something to contribute to social value, and we all have something to gain and something to give, so we really want this to be inclusive.”
Read full case study: Shaping preferable futures for a Social Value Framework in the Liverpool City Region.