Trafford Council employee Lorraine shows her STAR quality

Trafford Council employee Lorraine Cox has won a top award at a national conference.
 
Lorraine, who works for the Council’s STAR Procurement team, was awarded a Highly Commended Award for Leadership in Social Value at the National Social Value Conference.
 
The awards recognise excellence in Social Value which is the term used when taking into account the wider economic, social and environmental effects of a business decision. Lorraine has led innovative changes to the way Social Value is embedded, recorded and delivered through procurement across the STAR Authorities.

Lorraine said:

I am delighted to be awarded a highly commended award at the National Social Value Conference.  Our amazing outcomes would not have been possible without the STAR Team, support from STAR Board and Joint Committee, and all our commissioners, stakeholders and local businesses, who have all embraced our new approach.  The award shows that what we are delivering locally is far exceeding what is being done elsewhere in the UK and we are pioneering an approach which has international interest from as far afield as Canada and Australia.

STAR are continuing to drive the Social Value agenda across the North of England by enhancing and bespoking our approach. We will target local needs to deliver real local outcomes and to ensure we make tangible impact with a focus on climate change through our Procurement activity.”

STAR Procurement launched its campaign ‘Social Value is Everyone’s Business’ in March 2019 and started using the Social Value Portal - a website tool that captures, evaluates and monitors social value ­in April 2019.

Since the launch, 55% of tenders awarded have been to Greater Manchester businesses; of the £78m contract values through the Portal, £21.6m of committed social value has been secured, and 37% of bidders have been from Greater Manchester.