Tessa Wright

1. School of Business and Management
Public procurement, social value
and equality
Dr Tessa Wright
Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity
Queen Mary University of London
t.wright@qmul.ac.uk
ESRC Seminar Regulation of Work,
University of Strathclyde,
17 September 2015

2. School of Business and Management
Outline
 Procurement and equality history
 Legal framework
 Case example: Olympic Park and Women into
Construction project
 Future prospects

3. School of Business and Management
Using procurement to promote equality
 Contract compliance and race equality under Labour-led
Greater London Council in 1980s, but barred under Tory
government in 1988 and abolition of GLC
 Renewed interest in procurement and equality under Labour
after 1997; race equality duty 2000
 Women and Work Commission (2006) recommended
procurement policy to address gender pay gap
 EHRC guidance 2013 Buying better outcomes: Mainstreaming
equality considerations in procurement

4. School of Business and Management
Procurement and social objectives
 Social clauses, community benefits, social value
 Fair Wages Resolutions 1891, 1909 and 1946
 Tackling poverty (JRF, 2014); recruitment and training
 Living wage – London Olympics, Scottish Government
 Unions, i.e. Unite Fair Deal for Public Services procurement
strategy: contracted out workers, zero-hours contracts,
living wage

5. School of Business and Management
Legal framework
 Public Sector Equality Duty introduced in Equality Act 2010,
extended from race, gender and disability duties
 Public bodies must pay ‘due regard’ to eliminating
discrimination and promoting equality in all functions
 Applies to procurement, so may require equality obligations
in contracts with private firms
 Specific duty on procurement in Wales and Scotland, not
England; Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014
 EU law doesn’t prevent equality clauses (McCrudden)

6. School of Business and Management
Legal framework
 Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
 Public authorities must consider how services they
commission can improve economic, social and
environmental well-being of the area
 Applies only to services contracts, not works; includes
housing maintenance
 Section 106 planning agreements: contributions can include
employment opportunities and training

7. School of Business and Management
Women in UK construction
 Women 1.3% of manual trades; 16% of professional
construction roles
 Highly masculine working culture; beliefs about women’s
unsuitability; employer resistance; informal recruitment
practices; self-employment; sexual harassment; long and
inflexible work hours
 Many initiatives to increase diversity in the industry; non-
traditional work for women to address gender pay gap; use
of public procurement to promote equality

8. School of Business and Management
Procurement & equality in construction
 London Olympic Park: workforce
diversity targets for women, BAME,
disabled plus local labour; set by
Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)
through contracting process, plus extensive monitoring
 Women into Construction project set up in 2008 to
support ODA gender targets; public & industry funding
 ODA target 11% women; reached 5% (trades 3%)

9. School of Business and Management
Women into Construction project
 WiC project now in 8th
year
 Outreach and recruitment of women
 Engagement with contractors
 Employment preparation and training for women (900+)
 Supported work placements (222 to 2014)
 Brokering employment (450 to 2014)
 Regular reviews and ongoing support to women and
contractors

10. School of Business and Management
Women into Construction project
 Research evaluation report 2014
 Success of WiC model due to addressing
supply and demand: preparing women,
providing placements/brokering jobs
 Ongoing support to women
 Procurement requirements from public sector
clients crucial in engaging contractors with
project

11. School of Business and Management
Employer reasons for participation
 Access to pool of labour, overcoming skills shortages;
placements offer ‘free trial’
 Winning contracts: meeting local labour targets and
workforce diversity objectives, also apprenticeships
“Since we’ve had the girls working for us, people like [contractor] say to
us ‘you’ve done us a big favour’ [...] And I never realised, but it helps
the main contractor as well, not just us as a subcontractor. It’s giving
us the opportunity for more work.” (Contracts Manager, Painting and
decorating company)

12. School of Business and Management
Employer reasons for participation
 Support for targets for women’s employment:
“They might actually wake up and say ‘right, well we haven't had five per
cent of ladies on site’, whatever the figure is, and ‘there’s a penalty
clause’. And then maybe they will wake up and do something about it.
And then see the benefit of actually having some ladies there. Then it
becomes normal.”
(Project manager, building contractor)

13. School of Business and Management
Future prospects?
 Women into Construction project having impact; growing
number of women and contractors
 Social Value Act 2012 starting to have effect – applies to
services contracts not works, i.e. maintenance
 Role of stakeholders (Conley and Wright, 2015)
 Lack of government support for promoting equality and
procurement: PSED Review in 2013, then Minister Maria
Miller called for reduction in “procurement gold-plating by
the public sector”; further review in 2016