ACES Forum

Graeme,
LocatED (as an arms length body to the DfE) have a similar case at the moment, regarding a vacant former school site. I’m not sure in your particular circumstances if you will be required to secure a section 77 approval from the DfE land transactions team. The case we are currently reviewing does, and part of the work we are doing is to ensure that whatever assessment the disposing authority uses, will also satisfy the section 77 approval requirements around ensuring best value consideration.
Don’t have all the answers to this as yet, but happy to discuss if this might be helpful.
KEVIN FOSTER
Development Director, LocatED

Hi Graeme,
As Simon has intimated valuing ‘social value’ is difficult where there are no direct comparisons.
I would certainly have regard to the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. whilst this Act is primarily related to ‘social value’ in the context of procurement it does provide examples of  assessment.
in addition the RICS has produced a number of articles and reports notably “Measuring social value in infrastructure projects: insights from the public sector” 
and RICS Valuation Global Standards (Part 2).
This is certainly an area of increasing interest particularly where councils are seeking to reduce service costs and being able to provide some services off book.
Also have regard to Best Consideration provisions! 
regards Jeremy Pilgrim 

Hi Graeme, 
We use the TOMS framework for our procurement, that framework could be modified for your assessment.
More info here:-  The National TOMs – Social Value Portal
 

Hi Grahame, 
If anyone has cracked this (in a robust way) … I’d love to see it and probably nominate them for an economics medal!
Where we have looked at this before, we have focused as much on making sure the acquiring body has a sufficient governance process in place including – their structure – are they are a robust charity etc. What financial resources do they have to not only acquire, develop, but also  manage a site (in this case I guess a ‘listed’ school … with all the FM things to think about).  
Then an analysis of the business case … for example on financial projections and whether these are reasonable and robust – as well as what elements of commercial activity they have planned (so for example a community centre should be able to sub-let for a few uses, but not 24/7).
 
We have looked to allocate ‘points’ where there are social outcomes, although these are  subjective. Is for example something that benefits a small number of specialist users, better than a general community centre that the community may very occasionally use ?  We did also get some push back from people looking to acquire for an office use, who argued that creating jobs had a social benefit!  I guess there may be some specific  use! 
So I guess I am saying, I think the focus should be firstly on …. does the acquiring body ‘work’ and and is it financially sustainable / capable of running the site (which will vary from an open field to a complex building) …. as for is is a community use better than a £1m receipt …. probably one for your members!