Community Benefit Clauses Development Project
When, at the end of May 2011, Compact Chair Harriet Eadie took to the Edinburgh Partnership Executive a proposal to develop Community Benefit Clauses in public sector contracting and commissioning, she framed the discussion in terms of 'The Wider Impacts of Positive Purchasing.'
Recognising that 'the market' is never value-free, and that with 'purchasing power' comes the responsibility to use that power wisely, the Edinburgh Compact Partnership is keen to develop ways in which public partners can more easily and practicably maximise the positive social outcomes which derive from their purchasing decisions.
Choosing to purchase pencils, perhaps, made with wood from sustainable forests is not simply a financial decision, it is an ethical one. The purchaser consciously decides to use their power to promote environmental sustainability. Similarly, choosing to purchase cleaning services from a contractor who pays their staff a living wage demonstrably has impacts beyond achieving a tidy office or library or neighbourhood.
Neither of these are pie-in-the-sky examples - both are real, and are being applied in Scotland today. With a general 'Power to Advance Well-Being' Local Authorities are well-placed to require certain ethical standards of those with whom they do business.
The private sector has become used to Corporate Social Responsibility. Third sector organisations now routinely employ ethical investment/purchasing policies. Some good examples of public sector bodies using Community Benefit Clauses within contracts to yield the greatest possible social benefit do exist (eg: contracts associated with the Olympic Games 2012 or the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014) but better practice needs to be developed.
We are keen to include and involve all those with an interest in this work as our approach becomes clearer. In the first instance, please contact Milind at EVOC on (0131) 555 9100.
Besides the paper agreed by the Edinburgh Partnership Executive in May, we will also seek to share other information and resources on this topic. If you come across useful information you'd like to share, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
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