Reimagining Purposeful Procurement: Driving Social Value Through Partnership
Born from the ambitions set out in the NHS Social Value Playbook — which champions a consistent, evidence-based approach to embedding social value in procurement — NHS England, working in partnership with Sodexo UK & Ireland, convened a cross-sector roundtable to explore how procurement can be used as a powerful tool to deliver lasting social, economic, and environmental benefit across the UK.
Recognising the importance of cross-sector collaboration in realising this ambition, NHS England invited The Purpose Coalition to chair and convene a high-level roundtable — bringing together leaders from across public, private, and third-sector organisations. The session sought to explore how purposeful procurement can be embedded into everyday practice, driving measurable social, economic, and environmental outcomes for communities across the UK.
By convening partners from diverse sectors, The Purpose Coalition provides a unique platform for organisations to share their experiences, evidence, and success stories — helping to identify and scale what truly works in delivering social value.
Led by Rt Hon Justine Greening, Chair of The Purpose Coalition, the discussion focused on how purposeful procurement can help deliver the UK Government’s Five Missions, aligning social value with sustainable growth, local opportunity, and net zero ambitions.
Greening opened the session by underscoring the transformative potential of procurement: “Public and private organisations have an incredible opportunity to shape communities for the better through the way they buy and contract. Purposeful procurement is about unlocking that potential — ensuring that every pound spent also creates value for people, places, and the planet.”
Alexandra Hammond, Associate Director for Net Zero and Sustainable Procurement at NHS England, outlined the NHS’s leadership role as a national anchor institution and its commitment to embedding social value throughout its supply chain: “The NHS spends over £30 billion a year through procurement — which gives us not just a responsibility but a real opportunity to improve health outcomes and environmental performance. By working with suppliers who share our values, we can help drive down carbon emissions, support local economies, and improve wellbeing in every community we serve.”
This approach reflects NHS England’s intent, as set out in its Social Value Playbook, to ensure that procurement delivers tangible benefits — supporting wider health inequalities and sustainability goals across the system.
Angela Halliday, Director of Social Impact at Sodexo UK & Ireland, reinforced the value of partnership in embedding social value within complex supply chains: “No one organisation can deliver systemic change on its own. Partnerships like this are essential to share best practice, challenge traditional models, and ensure that social value and sustainability are embedded, not bolted on. Our collective ambition should be to make purposeful procurement the norm, not the exception.”
The roundtable explored how procurement can serve as a lever for reducing inequalities, supporting SMEs, and enabling inclusive local growth. Participants discussed the evolution of social value across policy and practice — from the Social Value Act through to the Procurement Act 2023 and the updated Social Value Model (PPN 002) — highlighting the growing emphasis on measurable, evidence-based outcomes.
The event brought together representatives from across the NHS, local government, education, infrastructure, and business — including:
NHS England, Kent & Medway NHS Trust, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, Sodexo UK & Ireland, E.ON UK, Social Value Portal, Curtins, Leonardo, Southeastern Railway, The Wise Group, and University of Greenwich.
This diversity of voices reflected a shared recognition that social value is now a strategic imperative for procurement and delivery — central to driving sustainable growth and community wellbeing.
As the discussion closed, Justine Greening summarised the next steps — calling on organisations to identify three tangible actions to advance purposeful procurement:
Embedding measurable outcomes within contracts,
Sharing data and learning across sectors, and
Supporting consistent standards for social value delivery.
“This conversation is just the beginning,” said Greening. “If we can align our approach to buying better, we can help people live better — and that’s the real purpose of social value.”
