Government removes bill's power to support social enterprises tendering for public sector goods contracts.
Social Firms UK is lobbying Nick Hurd, Cabinet Minister for Civil Society about restrictions the Government have made to the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill which mean that it will not help social enterprises trying to sell their goods to the public sector.
Chris White MP, who introduced this Private Members’ Bill, wanted to make sure that public sector commissioners are legally required to take social value into account when they let contracts for goods and services. As well as removing specific references to social enterprise, Government amendments made to the Bill on 19th October mean that, if it becomes law, it will generally only apply to service contracts. So procurement officials would still be able to ignore the extra social value that social enterprises who supply products, rather than services, offer.
The Bill covers all public sector bodies in England and in Wales for matters for which the Welsh Assembly does not have devolved powers.