Social value action plan 2021 – 2023

As a council we will deliver greater social, economic and environmental impact for the people and place of Surrey by:

• Understanding what is most important to communities in Surrey right now
• Building these identified priorities into the design and delivery of all our services
• Working in partnership to maximise impact
• Leading by example

Our ambition is that 'sharing resources to achieve shared outcomes' would become normal practice across the county between people and organisations. As part of our strategy we will:

• Promote and enable resource-sharing across the county
• Capture and tell the story of Social Value

Understand what is most important to communities in Surrey right now

We will work on an on-going basis with service teams, communities and partners to capture changing needs and desired outcomes and to review our Social Value Priority Areas.

1. The Social Value Programme Team (SVPT) will work with internal and external stakeholders to review and refresh the Social Value Priority Areas on an annual basis.
2. We will work with these same stakeholders throughout the year to capture more specific resource requests and aspirations, facilitating this process via offline events such as We Are Surrey and online platforms such as Social Value Marketplace.

Build these identified priorities into the design and delivery of all our services

When designing services, or spending any amount of public money, we plan right from the start how we might generate the greatest possible social, economic and environmental impact.

1. The SVPT will ensure that the priority areas and all resource requests are:
   • Shared across the Council, especially among commissioning and procurement teams.
   • Incorporated into the relevant tools and guidance e.g. Social Value Priority Areas and Social Value guidance documents.
   • Shared with partners and with communities for example via Social Value Marketplace.
   • Built into our strategy formation, business planning and budgeting activities.
2. Service, commissioning and procurement teams will work in an integrated way to:
   • Deliver Social Value through all services, goods and works of any scale.
   • Consider Social Value in all spend where appropriate.
   • Reserve procurements below threshold for Surrey-based organisations and/or for SMEs and VCSEs, wherever possible.
   • Build Social Value into service design from the very start of any commissioning process.
   • Connect Social Value commitments clearly to the outcomes they aim to achieve, and to the current Social Value Priority Areas.
   • Incorporate Social Value outcomes and key performance indicators as core contract outcomes in any relevant contract documents and performance management frameworks.
   • Work with contract managers to ensure that all Social Value committed to is delivered.
   • Achieve a Social Value benefit equivalent to at least 10% of the contract value in all tenders.
   • Prioritise qualitative evaluation over use of financial proxies, especially pre-award of contract when evaluating quotes or scoring bids.
   • Engage as early as possible with organisations who may be involved in delivering services, to explain our Social Value Priority Areas and our expected approach to delivering Social Value, ensuring any commitments are proportionate, relevant and meaningful.
3. All service teams and corporate functions will be trained in how to design and spend for Social Value, not only commissioners, procurement officers and contract managers.
4. We will engage as early as possible with organisations who may be involved in delivering services, to explain our Social Value Priority Areas and our expected approach to delivering Social Value, ensuring any commitments are realistic, relevant and meaningful to everyone involved.

Work in partnership to maximise impact

When our partners commit to delivering against shared priorities we work together, sharing our own resources, networks and expertise to help achieve the greatest impact.

1. We will establish networks of internal and external stakeholders around specific areas of Social Value, co-designing tools and processes to best support organisations to fulfil Social Value commitments, for example the Hidden Talent network, which aims to connect employers with those who might experience barriers to accessing the workplace.
2. We will establish a network of Social Value champions with subject matter expertise, who can advise on the design of Social Value activities and outcomes and can facilitate their delivery.

Lead by example

Delivering maximum impact means reviewing not only our service design and spending decisions as above, but also our operations, including for example our wellbeing policies, apprenticeship opportunities, use of our buildings, staff volunteering hours in the community, investment into renewable energy sources, and the way we travel to work.

1. We will work to increase uptake of our own staff volunteering hours, ensuring these are connected to the most relevant needs and opportunities in the community.
2. We will work to fulfil our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion action plan [link] for 2021 to 2022.
3. We will continue to outwork our shared Climate Change Strategy [link], including the target of net zero carbon emissions for the Council by 2030, and for the county by 2050.
4. We will develop an action plan that delivers on our workforce strategy [link], prioritising employee health and wellbeing and facilitating the recruitment and retention of those who might face barriers to accessing the workplace.

Promote and enable resource-sharing across the county

We develop online and offline spaces to facilitate, encourage and enable collaboration and resource sharing between all people and organisations in Surrey.

1. We will continue to host and support events such as We Are Surrey, celebrating the impact achieved through working together, and facilitating additional sharing of resources.
2. We will continue to develop and promote the Social Value Marketplace, enabling organisations to post offers and requests and supporting fulfilment of these wherever possible.
3. We will support development of further collaboration tools and platforms such as Common Place and Goodsted to enable
4. We will work with local communities in partnership with District and Borough Council teams, to promote and facilitate resource-sharing through campaigns such as Make It Happen, and through larger resources such as

Capture and tell the story

We will track all Social Value delivered through our activities, measuring and reporting on the impact achieved and publicising successes where possible.