West Midlands Trains Social Value 2022/23
The rail industry has an impact on society, the environment, and the economy and our responsibility at West Midlands Trains is to create positive impact through our business activities and generate community and social value.
Our responsibilities as an operational rail business go beyond our customers to the communities we serve and our input to help build the economic and social prosperity of the UK. In order to report those positive impacts, we are collecting data via a new Social Value Tool.
Background to the development of The Social Value Tool
In 2018, The Rail Safety and Standards Board identified 10 key areas of social impact for the rail industry:
Community Safety
Accessibility
Employment and Skills
Social Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion
Health and Wellbeing
Employee Engagement
Customer Satisfaction
Local and Sustainable Procurement
Regeneration
Using this RSSB Rail Social Value Tool, we are now collecting and collating data from around the company so that we can assess our social impact.
We work with our community partners to secure the data needed to produce the WMT Social Value Report and we will then share with DfT and stakeholders, customers, and communities to show previously ‘hidden’ and ‘unacknowledged’ values of our work, to which our community rail sector, contributes greatly.
In addition to the commercial value of community rail activity which can bring increases in passenger usage, the social value gain is also measurable and tangible.
A report on civil society and social value in 2020 by Danny Kruger listed so many overlaps in the philosophies and contributions of community rail and ‘Levelling up Communities’.
The scientific evidence that ‘gardening is good for you’ has long been a positive of station volunteering as camaraderie develops, horticultural improvements flourish and friendships blossom.
