Buying Social Justice project launches blog
The Buying Social Justice project has published its first blog piece on the project website. In A three-nations perspective on creating ‘social value’, Professor Hazel Conley argues that seeking social value through public procurement is even more important in times of public sector spending cuts, in order to minimise the impact of austerity policies that has previously been felt more harshly by women and ethnic minorities. The blog highlights the different approaches to using procurement to achieve social and equality goals in the three nations of England, Scotland and Wales. Our research for the Buying Social Justice project is already revealing a clear difference of political approach, with greater priority given to the use of public spending power for social ends by the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales than in Westminster. The governments in Scotland and Wales have introduced specific legislation to drive forward the use of public procurement to promote fairness, to tackle socio-economic inequality and to improve wellbeing. Our initial findings therefore suggest that public procurement is a significant tool for putting into practice policies to promote equality and enhance wellbeing.
The Buying Social Justice project blog will feature regular updates on the research as it progresses – including the results of our survey of procurement officers across England, Wales and Scotland – there is still time to complete our survey here: Buying Social Justice survey
The blog will also feature guest contributions from project partners and practitioners about their experiences of social procurement in practice. Look out for future blogs and join our mailing list to receive updates on the progress of the project.
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