Social Enterprise Bill is revolutionary, proclaims lobby group chief
Posted by Dan Martin in Business trends, Regulation on Thu, 18/11/2010 - 17:39
“We have been calling for a change in the contract commissioning structure for many years and to show the benefits to public services that social enterprises can bring,” Holbrook said during today’s meeting. “As a result, the Bill is potentially revolutionary. Social enterprises can help create a more resilient and fairer economy based on community ownership.”
The chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) has said he is confident that a Bill calling for public sector bodies to consider social outcomes when seeking suppliers will be backed by MPs.
Peter Holbrook made the claim during a meeting in the House of Commons attended by BusinessZone.co.uk.
Tabled by Conservative MP Chris White, the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill is being debated in Parliament on Friday. If passed, it will require all public sector contracts to deliver positive social, economic and environmental wellbeing in communities across England and some parts of Wales.
The government spends £141bn a year purchasing goods and services but SEC and other organisations claim that most decisions on who delivers contracts are currently made on price, not on how they can create jobs, stimulate local economies, support local communities, or reduce environmental harm.
If the Bill passes into legislation, campaigners say it would represent a significant opportunity for social enterprises, companies which plough all or the majority of their profits into a community cause, to deliver public services.
“We have been calling for a change in the contract commissioning structure for many years and to show the benefits to public services that social enterprises can bring,” Holbrook said during today’s meeting. “As a result, the Bill is potentially revolutionary. Social enterprises can help create a more resilient and fairer economy based on community ownership.”Also speaking at the event, Chris White said: “The challenges of tomorrow cannot be solved by the proposals of yesterday.
“People want to see a different kind of economic development based on social responsibility, community ownership and localism. Social enterprises are part of the new economic model.”
White added that the Bill has already received cross-party support. Labour MP Hazel Blears said: “Social enterprise is not a new agenda. Many people have been doing it for many years.
“They have succeeded despite the system and they have come through full of grit, determination and innovation. The Bill makes the system change which brings those people in.”
The House of Commons event coincided with Social Enterprise Day, part of Global Entrepreneurship Week which runs until Sunday.
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