Key information critical for Adult Social Care (ASC) providers to support LA
Case reference FOI2023/01702
Published 10 November 2023
Request
To enable care providers to work effectively with Local Authorities (LAs) to meet their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments, the following information request looks to establish key information critical for Adult Social Care (ASC) providers to support LA to meet those commitments.
Questions:
Q1. Please provide your LA definition for "local" in regard to the procurement of goods and services. Note: if you do not have a specific definition, please offer guidance to ASC providers as to how they should consider this in regard to supporting your LA.
Q2. Please provide your LA definition for "minority" in instances such as minority-owned businesses and similar contexts. Note: if you do not have a specific definition, please offer guidance to ASC providers as to how they should consider this in regard to supporting your LA.
Q3. Please state any energy commitments your LA are implementing over the next 1-3 years, and what you require from ASC providers to help achieve your LA commitments to net zero carbon ambitions etc.
Q4. Please can you provide a copy of, or a link to your current ESG policy statement, guidance, support and/or commitments or requirements as an LA.
Q5. Please provide information relating to any requirements necessary in respect of ESG for ASC providers to work with your LA, and state any weighting or scoring this may have on your decision to work with such ASC providers now or in the future.
Response
To enable care providers to work effectively with Local Authorities (LAs) to meet their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitments, the following information request looks to establish key information critical for Adult Social Care (ASC) providers to support LA to meet those commitments.
Questions:
Q1. Please provide your LA definition for "local" in regard to the procurement of goods and services. Note: if you do not have a specific definition, please offer guidance to ASC providers as to how they should consider this in regard to supporting your LA.
Herefordshire Council does not have a definition for 'local' in regards to the procurement of goods and services, however there is a requirement within the council's Contract Procedure Rules to include local suppliers. The below link provides details on this.
https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/documents/s50104260/Part%204%20Section%206%20Contract%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf
Q2. Please provide your LA definition for "minority" in instances such as minority-owned businesses and similar contexts. Note: if you do not have a specific definition, please offer guidance to ASC providers as to how they should consider this in regard to supporting your LA.
Herefordshire Council does not have a definition for "minority-owned business" we follow the Government definition which is:
"Businesses are classified as 'majority led' by people from an ethnic minority if 50% or more of their leadership are from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities)."
Q3. Please state any energy commitments your LA are implementing over the next 1-3 years, and what you require from ASC providers to help achieve your LA commitments to net zero carbon ambitions etc.
Herefordshire Council is on a pathway to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and expects all partners to be working towards the same goals. Whilst we do not specify how partners should achieve this we expect the simple hierarchy of reducing consumption, improving efficiency, using renewable energy and finally offsetting be utilised to achieve this goal.
The below link provides information regarding this.
https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/downloads/file/20530/carbon-management-plan-2020-21-to-2025-26.
Q4. Please can you provide a copy of, or a link to your current ESG policy statement, guidance, support and/or commitments or requirements as an LA.
We do not have a specific ESG policy statement, however we do have a Social Value Statement which can be viewed using the link below.
Herefordshire Council:Social value statement
Q5. Please provide information relating to any requirements necessary in respect of ESG for ASC providers to work with your LA, and state any weighting or scoring this may have on your decision to work with such ASC providers now or in the future.
Social Value Pledges and examples of the value indicators used can be found in the Council's Social Value Statement via the above link. A 12% weighting is typically allocated to 'Social Value' where this is considered relevant to the procurement.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.