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Voluntary Sector North West
St. Thomas Centre

Ardwick Green North
Manchester
M12 6FZ
Tel: 0161 276 9300
Fax: 0161 276 9301
Email: info@vsnw.org.uk

Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill

What is the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill?
On 30th June 2010 the Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill received its first reading in the House of Commons. This Private Member’s Bill is sponsored by Chris White, Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington:

“One of the things that I am most proud of in our constituency is the strength of our community and the myriad of voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises that thrive here. So when I was deciding what to put forward for my bill, I wanted to see how best I could support these groups and our community.”
Chris White MP

What will the bill do?
The bill will require the Secretary of State and local authorities to publish strategies in connection with promoting social enterprise and social value. If passed, the bill will enable communities to participate in the formulation and implementation of those strategies and it will require that public sector contracts include provisions relating to social outcomes and social value.

The second reading of the bill, which is the first chance to fully debate the content, is taking place on Friday 19th November. For the bill to continue its journey through Parliament it will require 100 MPs to vote in favour. We therefore need to encourage our constituent MPs and MPs that we have working relationships with to attend the debate and vote in favour of the bill, communicating to them the wide reaching benefits of the bill.

What can we do to help the bill pass?
Since this issue is time sensitive we need to take action NOW. Please find below a draft template letter which you can use to communicate with your MP, we strongly recommend that you e-mail this letter to your MP and that you follow it up immediately with a telephone call to your MPs London office. You can find all the contact details for your MP if you use a search engine to look for them.

Template letter to write to MP

Private Member's Bill briefing