15 April 2020 
Ashley Shelbrooke, HEPA and Project Specialist
This second blog post, published in the April edition of the HEPA Digest, follows on from Veronica’s first blog post published in the March edition of the HEPA Digest which can be read here. This blog covers Social Enterprises, HEPA and Responsible Procurement.
Part three of Veronica’s blog will shine a spotlight on social enterprises working in the University Sector – keep an eye out for it in a future HEPA Digest!
King’s College London is a member of Social Enterprise UK and we aim to increase the amount of social enterprises in our supply chain. Social Enterprises can help us meet our responsible purchasing objectives because they are businesses which put the majority of their profits into social, economic and environmental sustainability objectives, such as clean water initiatives, food poverty and employability issues.
One of the social enterprises in King’s supply chain, which is a not for profit arm of S3 Science Recruitment Agency, is helping us to fill vacancies from a pool of workers who in the past have faced difficulty entering the workplace for a whole range of reasons, including mental health issues and coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. This social enterprise runs a training, development and employability programme and has a social mission which is to link employers with both students and job-seekers via a variety of accessible employment route ways. Since June 2018, 16 learners have completed placements with King’s and all have found permanent employment at King’s or elsewhere in their chosen field.
Another social enterprise in King’s supply chain is Clear Voice Interpreting Services which is a social enterprise providing translation and interpretation services to King’s. All of their profits go to their parent charity Migrant Help which supports exploited and displaced people and victims of modern day slavery and trafficking. Clear Voice also offer opportunities for language students at King’s to gain valuable work experience.
Contracts have also recently been awarded to Café Direct and Social Pantry, both London based social enterprises which put their profits into improving the lives of disadvantaged communities while delivering excellent goods and services to customers.
King’s socially responsible purchasing policy has only been in operation for just over a year but it is already achieving results beyond compliance with relevant social legislation. This is social value through procurement in action and you will see more of this at King’s in the months and years to come.
Procurement professionals are important agents for change and can greatly influence the way an organisation spends its money on goods and services. I joined the Board of HEPA last year and I am delighted that my procurement colleagues throughout the higher education sector are also passionate about socially responsible procurement. A Responsible Procurement Group has been in place since April 2017 to move the agenda forward in Higher Education procurement. It has however been recognised that specific focus is needed in particular areas and as such working groups have been created for Social Value, Climate Change, Modern Slavery & Human Rights and Plastics / Packaging; each group is responsible for delivering tools, templates and guidance to ensure the whole sector can achieve socially responsible outcomes and in doing so transform the way procurement is performed throughout the sector.
Over the coming months I will be engaging with procurement colleagues across the sector to identify achievements in social value and to highlight them through HEPA channels. This will help inspire and inform others. As a champion for Social Enterprises, and having had experience of how much value they add as part of an organisations’ supply chain, I will be highlighting their work and helping colleagues in the sector to work with them.
