Dear Madam,

Thank you for your request for information submitted under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which has been given the above mentioned reference number. Please quote this on any correspondence regarding your request.

Stockport Council will respond to your request within 20 working days from the date of receipt. If there will be a charge for disbursements e.g. photocopying in order to provide the information, we will inform you as soon as possible to see if you wish to proceed; however such charges are usually waived if they amount to less than £10.

Yours sincerely,

E Morrison
On behalf of FOI Officer

Stockport MBC
Stockport
SK1 3XE

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Dear Ms Powell,

 

I am writing in response to your request for information (ref FOI 7553).

 

The relevant Council Service(s) has searched for the requested information
and our response is as follows.

 

A:

 1. What organisation do you fund / contract to provide support to Social
Enterprises?

Adult Social Care: Anchorpoint

 

 2. If you commission this service out, what broad range of services is
the provider giving to Social Enterprises?

Adult Social Care:  Infrastructure development

 

 3. What is the annual value of this contract / grant?

Adult Social Care: £140k

 

 4. What monitoring is in place to ensure a provider is giving an
excellent service to Social Enterprises (recognising that this is the
quickest growth sector in the UK), how frequently are providers
performance managed and how are Social Enterprise customers consulted
about their experience of receiving support from the provider?

Adult Social Care:  There is a quarterly corporate-led meeting to monitor
performance against jointly agreed outcomes and an annual report and
briefing to the Exec Councillor

 

 5. Can you please share any monitoring exercises of providers that you
have undertaken in the last 2 years.

Adult Social Care:  Yes, on request

 

 

B:

1)      Has Stockport Council commissioned any companies that it
recognises to be Social Enterprises in the past three years?

Yes. Please see below for examples of how Adult Social care and Children’s
services are working with social enterprises.

 

2)      If so, what service was each contract for?

 

Adult Social Care:  Specific Examples of social enterprise include
commissions for a) Mental Health Co-production work, b) Healthwatch (grant
funded), c) Mental Health Recovery

Children’s Services:  The Council commissions the independent charity Pure
Innovations to undertake a range of activities. Pure supports society’s
most vulnerable and disadvantaged people to live a more fulfilled,
inclusive lifestyle. They support people to take up paid employment, have
careers and be an integral part of their community. Pure provide support
for people with disabilities and vulnerable people. See
[1]http://www.pureinnovations.co.uk

 

3)      What were the start and end dates of the contracts?

Adult Social Care: a) 2012-2015, b) 2013-2015, c) 2012-2015

Pure Innovations: 2012 to date

 

4)      What was the value of each contract?

 

Adult Social Care: a) £35,000 , b) £114,000 pa , c) £12000 pa

Total expenditure with Pure Innovations (including grants): £4,316,000
(April 2012 – August 2013)

 

5)      What proactive measures does Stockport Council take to enable
Social Enterprises to bid for public sector contracts in Stockport?

 

In terms of adult social care, the aim is for service provision to move to
a personalised model. Stockport operates an electronic market-place and
social enterprises and micro-businesses are encouraged to advertise on
this site free of charge.

In general terms, Stockport Council works with a range of community
partners and also encourages SMEs and voluntary agencies to bid for
commercial opportunities by advertising opportunities through its
eProcurement system, The Chest ([2]https://www.the-chest.org.uk). We also
work across the organisation to identify where opportunities are suitable
for smaller businesses and social enterprises, particularly in the
commissioning environment.  The Council also has access to spend analysis
system, Spend Pro, which is working to introduce functionality which will
identify the contracted companies in order to identify which of them are
SMEs and Social Enterprises. The identification of Social Enterprises is
not always easy, as the organisation may not identify itself as such nor
be recorded in our systems as such. It is likely that our spend with
social enterprises which have not yet been identified as such is therefore
higher than the above examples cited. We have also worked to simplify and
streamline our procurement documentation in the past year, shortening and
simplifying tender request documents and lessening the amount of time and
paperwork SMEs and social enterprises need to submit, particularly for
lower value contracts.

 

6)      What processes do Stockport Council implement to ensure that
Social Value is seriously considered when commissioning?

 

The Council is currently cascading training with regard to Social Value
Act, both from the point of view of commercial procurement and social care
commissioning. The procurement service is due to work collaboratively with
Rochdale and Trafford councils which will help ensure a greater degree of
transparency and consistency with regard to the way in which social
enterprises are given opportunities to tender for council contracts.

 

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request for
information, you are entitled to ask for an internal review; however you
must do so within 40 working days of the date of this response. Any
internal review will be carried out by a senior member of staff who was
not involved with your original request. To ask for an internal review,
contact [3][email address] in the first instance.

 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of any internal review, you are
entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner. To do so, contact:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

[4]www.ico.gov.uk

 

01625 545 745

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Simon Oldfield

Freedom of Information/ Data Protection Officer & RIPA Coordinator

Stockport Council

Town Hall

Stockport

SK1 3XE

 

Tel: 0161 474 4048

Fax: 0161 474 4006

http://www.stockport.gov.uk

 

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