Social Value Policy - Introduction
Chorley Council has a vision of being 'a proactive community leader, supporting the borough and all its residents, whether in rural or urban areas, to reach their full potential through working in partnership to deliver services that achieve the best outcomes for local people and protect vulnerable people.'
This vision aims to address a number of key challenges faced by the borough. Whilst Chorley is relatively affluent, there are still pockets of deprivation within certain neighborhoods, some of which fall within the 10% of most deprived areas nationally. Employment is high across the authority in comparison to other areas in Lancashire, but factors such as health disabilities and income deprivation impact many of our residents. The borough also faces greater than average carbon dioxide emissions, partly due to the impact of local transport links.
The council has already delivered a number of projects and initiatives to help tackle these challenges and empower communities at a local level, such as delivering local employment sites, developing a framework for building community resilience including associated locality action plans, and supporting the environment through a programme committed to the Green Agenda.
Chorley Council recognises the important role it can play in enabling Social Value through procurement activity and embedding this as part of the key decision-making process at the council. The introduction of this Social Value Policy will contribute to the current successes of Chorley and will support plans to address key challenges, particularly in relation to engaging communities, supporting the local economy and promoting environmental sustainability.
The aim of this policy is to set out our approach to social value and how we will integrate economic, environmental and social responsibility into our procurement processes.