The potential of social enterprises is being compromised by a lack of engagement and knowledge of their role withing local authorities in Wales.
This is claim of a new report from Audit Wales - the umbrella name used to describe the Auditor General for Wales and the Wales Audit Office - which says while there are good examples of some local authorities effectively collaborating with social enterprises, most are not promoting opportunities to widen their role and maximising their impact, which is said is due to a “mixture of poor leadership and inadequate engagement and knowledge of the sector.” To address this, one of its recommendations is for councils to do more to deliver their statutory social care responsibilities to social enterprises and effectively promote and develop the sector to deliver more services in communities.
Social enterprises, defined as having a social purpose, include charities, mutuals, co-operatives and community interest groups.
The report says that local authorities need to ensure they have the right arrangements and systems in place to get the best from their work with and funding of social enterprises. It also says that authorities need to take stock of current work and chart a new relationship with the social enterprise sector. To support this Audit Wales has created an evaluation tool to enable local authority officers and elected members to identify and agree how best to work with social enterprises going forward.
Auditor General, Adrian Crompton said: “Social enterprises play an important role in meeting needs and helping people in communities across Wales. Local authorities could do more to maximise the impact of social enterprises, get better value for money from their work, and improve services for people and communities.”
In response the body that represents local authorities in Wales, the Welsh Local Government Association, said; “The ethos of social enterprise is very well aligned to the work of councils. Undertaking work with social, environmental, and other community benefits is at the heart of what councils do themselves. Where social enterprises can help councils to deliver on well-being goals that is to be welcomed and there are many good examples of councils working with, and supporting, social enterprise - as the Audit Wales report acknowledges.
"With growing financial pressures on councils over the coming years, the need to work with social enterprises to make sure that communities are supported will become greater than ever. The report will therefore no doubt be studied closely by councils to see if there are ways that relationships can be developed and enhanced.”
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