I'd be pleased to go first.
Personally, I would argue that the author, Alan Painter, is portraying support for the social economy as an expenditure, not as an investment. On the investment side, with the government supporting.... In terms of the government devolving many of the services to community groups, community groups are actually helping the government achieve its policy agendas, so it is an investment rather than an expenditure.
So I think it's the paradigm from which you approach the argument that is very important.