Your Waltham Forest Labour Council has pledged to do everything we can make our economy more inclusive. That means directing wealth back into the hands of our residents –  in terms of the way we use our land and property and our spending power.

Yesterday, we were very proud to agree the Social Value Impact Report 2020-2022 and Social Value Annual Statement 2023/24 at Cabinet.

In 2021 Waltham Forest published its first Social Value Policy, developed with an aim to provide a more significant opportunity for the Council to deliver an effective, standardised and flexible approach to achieve social value through its significant procurement activities.

This report demonstrates our commitment to producing real social value and provides an overview of the social value progress, highlighting the achievements between December 2020 and December 2022.

The policy is linked to and addresses our four immediate priorities that define the Council’s Social Value principles:

– Connecting People with Jobs

– Safe and Healthy Lives

– Our 15-minute Neighbourhoods

– Confidence in Our Future

In addition to fulfilling a primary purpose from its contracts, the Council uses procurement as a mechanism to provide social, economic and environmental benefits to our residents.

This allows us to plan and measure how our actions have contributed to the long-term well-being and resilience of individuals, businesses and the community.

But what does this actually mean for the residents and businesses of Waltham Forest?

Social value delivered has grown from £29k in 2019/20 to £42m in 2021/22.

This figure includes such things as local construction and supply chain jobs, apprenticeships and work placements, new trees planted, new affordable homes and new spaces – cultural, community and commercial, for example.

This also includes some of the actions we are taking to deal with the climate emergency, for example, carbon reductions emissions savings borough social value contracts, improving biodiversity through creating local outdoor spaces and sustainable transport outcomes such as cycle storage or electric vehicle charging points.

Other delivered outcomes include:

– 621 sustainable jobs

– 5,709 apprenticeship weeks

– 548 weeks of work experience

– 6,382 volunteer hours

– £769,730 of community support

– 6,811 carbon miles saved

– 7,233tonnes of waste reduction

– 379TCO2E of carbon reduction

These are just a few of the examples and there is much, much more in the full report, which we would recommend you read here.