Last weeks news that Chris White, the Conservative MP for Warwick and Leamington MP has been appointed as the government’s first social value ambassador is good for the country as a whole and the voluntary and community sector in particular. Social Value is a concept that has been applied very successfully in the commissioning prospectus that has been provided by East Sussex County Council.

The principle is very simple. In an environment where we want the best value for the taxpayers pound, simply focusing on price alone will not be sufficient. Yet if Commissioners are not provided with a robust template, their focus will inevitably revert to how much a service costs to provide. This will lose sight of the impact that local jobs can have if a supplier is based locally and has a commitment to paying local people a competitive wage, rather than transporting labour from an area with lower costs. This will then have an impact on our roads and the environment. Some of the contracts that local government make if cost is the only factor, can favour large organisations that have an ability to cross subsidise in the short term, just to win the business. This can lead to local businesses or charities missing out, even if these organisations are the ones that might add the greatest value in terms of building community cohesion. Local workers put their wages into local shops, and other businesses. It is these businesses that the government agencies are responsible for, and from whom they need to extract council taxes and business rates.

In time we must hope that Parliament works out that every MP should be a social value ambassador. Sadly too many of our elected representatives are unaware of the concept and have a tendency to focus on price. This is not helped when organisation such as the Tax Payers Alliance issue their press releases that focus on price rather than value. There can be a good case for paying a bit more, as long as the money can be shown to reduce costs in other areas. If a large multinational can save costs, but puts local people out of work, the local economy may well be lost altogether. Let us hope that Chris White is quickly joined by other MPs.