"The first question that we should ask when developing any contract specification should be: 'Can we include a community benefit clause?' "
John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, March 2010
Community benefit clauses provide a means of achieving sustainability in public contracts. They include targeted recruitment and training, small business and social enterprise development and community engagement.
The Scottish Government has published:
Community Benefits in Public Procurement - Report
Community Benefits in Public Procurement - Guidance Note
Community Benefits - Leaflet
These provide:
- Legal and policy context
- Case studies
- Outcomes and good practices and
- A toolkit of appropriate clauses
Previous information is now augmented by Monitoring Community Benefits in Procurement which:
- Provides helpful definitions of the type of outcomes that contracting authorities can expect through use of community benefit clauses
- Links community benefits in procurement to the National Performance Framework
- Recognises the link to Standard Industrial Classifications and Standard Occupational Classifications used in employability work
Third Sector Division, within the Scottish Government, are funding a programme of market development which will:
- promote community benefits in procurement; and,
- provide support to contracting authorities wishing to use community benefit clauses
Construction Skills has developed guidance, including a range of indices to help contracting authorities build community benefit clauses into construction contracts.
Further community benefits case studies are being developed and will be available from this page.