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BETTER VALUE FROM SCOTLAND’S £1 BILLION SOCIAL ECONOMY

Scotland is already benefiting from buying better value, high-quality services from the social enterprises which also boost Scotland’s economy.

Just how this is achieved is explained by two new guides from Communities Scotland.

Better Value, purchasing public services from the social economy raises awareness and highlights the advantages of buying goods and services from the social economy. It also shows, through an additional guide of 15 case studies, where social economy organisations are already providing high-quality services.

The guides, which are part of the Futurebuilders Scotland programme managed by Communities Scotland, highlight the social, economic and environmental benefits for our communities that can be gained by working with the social economy.

Ian Mitchell, director of community regeneration at Communities Scotland, said:

“The social economy has a track record of delivering excellent public services. Many of these services are provided for the most deprived people in Scotland. On top of this, social economy organisations provide employment, and invest in the communities that they serve.

“These guides highlight in a clear way how working with the social economy can help public bodies meet their various obligations and provide better services. The case studies show that this is already happening.

“The guides will play a key role in raising awareness in the public sector about what the social economy can deliver. It is part of our strategy to encourage more public bodies to open up their purchasing to the social economy.”

The guides will be built on by a series of actions aimed at increasing the role of social enterprises through a social enterprise strategy, due to be published shortly.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Examples of successful social enterprises in different parts of Scotland and the services they provide include:

• Cornerstone Ayrshire
From its Ayr base, Cornerstone has developed flexible services for both South and East Ayrshire councils, on around a mix of short break and adult placements, where people with learning disabilities live with a carer in their carer’s home. Typically, service users are leaving an institution and it is a feature of the support that the family of the service user are involved where appropriate.
Turnover: £22.5 million. Staff: 1,786.

• SpringBack, Fife and Forth Valley
FEAT Enterprises newest social enterprise is SpringBack, a bed and mattress recycling service working with four local authorities across Fife and Forth Valley. SpringBack collects bed parts destined for landfill and deconstructs them into their various components. It finds customers who will reprocess the components in new products including carpets. It is paid monthly by its four local authority clients, based on an agreed unit price for each bed part collected and diverted from landfill.
Turnover: £1.2 million. Staff: 50.

• Smile Childcare, Edinburgh
Smile Childcare provides childcare services to students at Edinburgh’s Stevenson College. This contract has evolved over five years to meet the changing needs of student parents. Unlike other providers, Smile Childcare does not sell ‘blocks’ of childcare which parents may not want, and parents can also choose where their child will be looked after. Over the years, students have increasingly elected to have childcare services as close as possible to a fixed location at their home rather than at the college.
Turnover: £1.1 million. Staff: 47 full-time, 34 part-time.

• The Better Value Guide has been produced in partnership with the European funded EQUAL social economy Scotland partnership: www.socialeconomyscotland.info

Communities Scotland was abolished on 1 April 2008. This is an archived site and the contents may no longer be accurate. If you are looking for information about housing and regeneration, please visit www.scotland.gov.uk For information about regulation and inspection, please visit www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk.