By Mark Smulian in Birmingham | July 7 2011
Public bodies should be more willing to turn to social enterprises to help provide services, a conference workshop on the Big Society heard yesterday.
Peter Holbrook, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, argued that the sector was now a mature one, with a £50bn annual turnover, and capable of providing public services.
‘We bring together social aims with business disciplines,’ he said. This combination of skills meant it was able to provide services where spending cuts meant the public sector would struggle.
‘What is the alternative to you using social enterprises?’ he asked. ‘You cannot just keep cutting or you will put on costs elsewhere, storing up problems for the future.’
Holbrook called for support for Conservative MP Chris White’s Social Enterprise and Social Value Bill, now before Parliament, which he said would require public service commissioners to consider social and environmental matters when awarding contracts, not price alone.
Paul Brown, a director of accountancy firm RSM Tenon, admitted that the social enterprise sector had a problem in finding skilled people who could develop ideas into competitive businesses.
‘Future leaders is the big question,’ he said. ‘There are lots of ideas out there but getting them to a state where they are social enterprises that can compete before a council or NHS provider is difficult.’
But he added that social enterprises that were well run could easily compete financially with public sector providers because they did not carry the latter’s large overheads.
Public bodies should be more willing to turn to social enterprises to help provide services, a conference workshop on the Big Society heard yesterday.
Peter Holbrook, chief executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, argued that the sector was now a mature one, with a £50bn annual turnover, and capable of providing public services.
‘We bring together social aims with business disciplines,’ he said. This combination of skills meant it was able to provide services where spending cuts meant the public sector would struggle.
‘What is the alternative to you using social enterprises?’ he asked. ‘You cannot just keep cutting or you will put on costs elsewhere, storing up problems for the future.’
Holbrook called for support for Conservative MP Chris White’s Social Enterprise and Social Value Bill, now before Parliament, which he said would require public service commissioners to consider social and environmental matters when awarding contracts, not price alone.
Paul Brown, a director of accountancy firm RSM Tenon, admitted that the social enterprise sector had a problem in finding skilled people who could develop ideas into competitive businesses.
‘Future leaders is the big question,’ he said. ‘There are lots of ideas out there but getting them to a state where they are social enterprises that can compete before a council or NHS provider is difficult.’
But he added that social enterprises that were well run could easily compete financially with public sector providers because they did not carry the latter’s large overheads.
