Birmingham City Council says the amount of money spent in its local economy through its biggest service contracts has increased during the pandemic. A council report this week on social value includes data from 20 of the council’s largest contractors, indicating that £194.6m was spent in the local economy in 2020-21 – defined as within 30 miles of the point of service delivery – compared to £166.4m the previous year. These contracts also saw the increase in other social value metrics. Weeks of local employment rose from 53,612 to 68,141 and hours of voluntary time increased from 9,883 to 10,825. The report, from interim director of finance and governance Rebecca Hellard claims that “other than work placements, Covid has not had a negative impact on delivery of social value”.