Levelling Up Whitepaper: True Social Value Will Play Into The Levelling Up Agenda

The government’s levelling up whitepaper has finally been unveiled in full after several delays, with the document outlining commitments to rebalancing the UK through 12 key missions.

Social value remains a hot topic across many industries and one that will extend into every reach of life. With several mission statements outlined by the government focussing on social-led topics, making sure that organisations are able to identify the actual positive impact of their work on communities will become a big operation – and one that we are positioned to support with.

Social value lead Angus Townsend said: “Some of the missions outlined within the whitepaper may appear to some as ‘softer’ elements, such as improving life expectancy. However, these elements are all interlinked and very much tied to social value and the types of outcomes we help our clients demonstrate from their operations.

“It’s likely that generating social value and delivering the levelling up agenda will become synonymous with each other – but the responsibility on doing both will be on all of us. It will be important to make sure we can examine the impact of everything we do and how that plays into the core mission statements from the whitepaper. As ‘the social value people’, we are primed and ready to work with our clients to help demonstrate both quantitative and qualitative evidence to show how they are helping to work towards these outcomes.”

Gerard Toplass, executive chairman of our parent organisation The 55 Group, added: “There has been a mixed reaction to the whitepaper so far, but we are hopeful that it will mark a moment where direction changes towards making actionable change to rebalance the country. The key will be ensuring it delivers what it promises – and it will be up to us all to keep momentum and hold leadership accountable to making process.

“Of course, a lot of our operations are within the construction industry so there are ample ways our work will be able to support the aims around regeneration and infrastructure. However, our work stretches far beyond this, working on key areas including social return on investment and seeking to modernise skills and training to make it fit for the modern world.

“Seeing a focus on research and development and improving education standards is hopeful – but will largely rely on adequate funding. Part of levelling up is putting the power into the hands that need it, so making sure that we are working towards practises fit for the future will be a huge part of the journey. For example, in the construction sector there is an ongoing shortage of skills that training courses are simply not fit for purpose in tackling due to relevance, complexity or overall length.

“With a better, digital-first approach to training, education and R&D, we can all play a key role in delivering the positive future that every individual deserves, which is not impacted by where they live.

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