Key Policy References
The purpose of this section of the website is to enable Members to draw down rapidly on key documentation that might be needed to support a grant bid, or to inform some local analysis.
There is a stack of relevant papers – here are some of the key documents:
Coalition Government
The Coalition Government website replacing DCSF is the Department of Education. See a special report published October 2010 on the education policy.
Government Coalition Briefing
Government Coalition Agreement
See previous Labour Government page for information on Every Child Matters & policies prior to 2010 election.
The Big Society
The coalition Government has initiated a programme called 'The Big Society' a plan of social responsibility and community action.
The Coalition Government has included the Conservative Party’s concept of a Big Society in its Coalition Agreement, and this will therefore be carried forward. Francis Maude is the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office and is the Minister responsible.
It is a significant development that arguably will shift power from Central Government to local communities, and as a “big idea” may help to offset the draconian public expenditure cuts that are part of what the Chancellor George Osborne called “the age of austerity”.
Origins
In a speech on 31 March 2010, before the General Election, David Cameron launched the document – “ Big Society, not Big Government” in the following terms:
"Conservatives today set out policies to help mend Britain's Broken Society, including the creation of a new "neighbourhood army" of 5,000 professional community organisers that would give communities the help they need to work together and tackle their problems. Conservatives seek to build a ‘Big Society’ based on responsibility and respect, in stark contrast with Labour's Big Government built on paternalism and waste."It is a guiding philosophy", Cameron said, "a society where the leading force for progress is social responsibility, not state control". "It includes a whole set of unifying approaches – breaking state monopolies, allowing charities, social enterprises and companies to provide public services, devolving power down to neighbourhoods, making government more accountable". "And it’s the thread that runs consistently through our whole policy programme – our plans to reform public services, mend our broken society, and rebuild trust in politics."
The new policies announced as part of the Big Society plan include:
In part, it is from the extensive and sustained work of Ian Duncan Smith MP in examining “The Broken Society”.
- Neighbourhood army” of 5,000 full-time, professional community organisers who will be trained with the skills they need to identify local community leaders, bring communities together, help people start their own neighbourhood groups, and give communities the help they need to take control and tackle their problems. This plan is directly based on the successful community organising movement established by Saul Alinsky in the United States and has successfully trained generations of community organisers, including President Obama.
- A Big Society Bank, funded from unclaimed bank assets, which will leverage private sector investment to provide hundreds of millions of pounds of new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other non-governmental bodies.
- Neighbourhood grants for the UK’s poorest areas to encourage people to come together to form neighbourhood groups and support social enterprises and charities in these poorest areas.
- Transforming the civil service into a ‘civic service’ by making regular community service a key element in civil servant staff appraisals.
- Launching an annual national ‘Big Society Day’ to celebrate the work of neighbourhood groups and encourage more people to take part in social action projects.
- Providing new funding to support the next generation of social entrepreneurs, and helping successful social enterprises to expand and succeed.
- It is interesting to reflect on where some of this thinking has come from.
The argument that Britain is a “broken society” is sustained in six volumes of reports produced by the Social Justice Policy Group, a think tank funded by the Conservative Party. In order to break this cycle of deprivation, the Social Justice Policy Group defined the five key "paths to poverty" - family breakdown, serious personal debt, drug and alcohol addiction, failed education and worklessness. The sixth volume was about the contribution of the Voluntary Sector - “ Breakthrough Britain: Third Sector”.
Details can be found on their website: www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk (to find the reports look under Publications)
The second influence would appear to be the writing of Phillip Blond a former theology lecturer turned policy adviser to Cameron, and founder of Respublica a think tank - www.respublica.org.uk . Blond is sometimes characterised as a Red Tory
Blond’s themes have been about breaking up the power of the State and private sector monopolies and empowering local communities. The following article is a useful summary: Rise of the red Tories". Prospect. http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/02/riseoftheredtories
Developments (June 2010)
Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office has announced his intention to set up a fund to foster the creation of community groups in deprived areas. In a press release Maude said the fund, called Communities First, would provide start-up funding for community groups in disadvantaged parts of the country. The Minister said that one of the Government's main aims was to increase social capital in local areas by creating small neighbourhood groups. The Government would also ensure that charities and social enterprises bidding for payment-by-results contracts in welfare or the rehabilitation of prisoners would have access to working capital so they were able to compete.
SO will it work?
The Coalition Government is not the first to have promoted decentralisation and empowering of local communities and neighbourhoods. However the Coalition is itself unprecedented…and it might just work…watch this space.
References
The Government website: http://www.thebigsociety.co.uk/
The NCVO has published a briefing on the Big Society. For more see: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sites/default/files/Big_Society_Programme_briefing_final_0.pdf
Government Office for the South East presentation and update on 'The Big Society' and new Government policies.
The NCVO analysis of the Government's Giving White Paper (May 2011). See: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/news/civil-society/our-policy-analysis-giving-white-paper
Strategy for the Big Society
Report October 2010 - Building a Stronger Civil Society - a strategy for voluntary and community groups, charities and social enterprises. Report Supporting a Stronger Civil Society
New Philanthropy Capital has published a paper NPC Perspectives: Proving your worth to Whitehall. See their website for more information: http://www.philanthropycapital.org/publications/improving_the_sector/improving_charities/Proving_worth_Whitehall.aspx
Social Impact Bonds
The Young Foundation is developing a financial tool called Social Impact Bonds to provide a new way to invest money in social outcomes. For more on this innovative scheme see: http://www.youngfoundation.org/social-innovation/tips/social-impact-bonds-and-social-value
Total Place, Co-production & SROI - 2010
You will be hearing a lot more about Total Place, Social Return on Investment and especially Co – production over the next year or so. Here are two reports on these important subjects which are likely to frame the way in which the statutory and voluntary sectors interact with each other over the next few years.
See here for one of the original reports 'The Challenge of Co-Production' for a useful starting point.
Local - Surrey
Surrey Policies
See also http://www.surreyyouthfocus.org.uk/needsofyoungpeple
Policies for Children and Young People in Surrey are determined by the Strategic Forum of the Surrey Alliance for Children and Young People (Children’s Trust).
The current C&YP Plan is for 9/10 and can be found on the Surrey CC website. See also Workforce Development and Meetings and Networks on this website.
Surrey Economic Partnership report for September 2009 'Surrey Economic Propspects', includes information at the request of Surrey Youth Focus about youth unemployment and NEET to reflect some of the impact of the recession on young people.
Commissioning
Commissioning Support information is available here in a presentation and at the website www.commissioningsupport.org.uk
Youth Work Issues
Surrey Youth Focus AGM presentation by Dean Pusey, entitled 'Reflections on Youth Work' can be viewed here.
- From Surrey to Finland http://t.co/1gNrDfqE
Read more... - RT @VolunteeringEng Social value bill passes second reading in the Lords http://t.co/gpwDvhxT via @ThirdSector
Read more... - @AGoodWeek you may find #charitytuesday gives you some excellent recommendations!
Read more... - Surrey Youth Consortium vacancy for Contracts & Performance Manager http://t.co/fDjt0p7u
Read more...
