Originally published 8 February 2011. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
he Chancellor didn’t have many surprises. Almost all the key messages of the Spending Review had been well and truly leaked and most public agencies watching his speech did so, not to find out what would happen to their budgets, but just to check that it wasn’t going to be worse than forecast.
Although the aftermath has been a predictable discussion about ‘fairness’, forward-looking public sector Managers are just getting on with it. Restructuring departments and reducing headcount is pretty unpleasant especially if loyal staff have to lose their jobs, but there’s a creative side to it too. Re-structuring or re-aligning services may be tedious and unglamorous, but it does afford scope for imagination, for fresh thinking and collaborative effort.
In its Big Society idea, certain members of the Government have a clear vision that it can pull off an impressive three-card trick – reduce the influence of the State, save public money and improve the quality of delivered services! (They would probably settle for any two).
Don’t dismiss this aspiration. It is not impossible. But it is challenging. And it is why readers of this Topic should pay particular attention to two Government documents published in recent days.
One is called Building a Stronger Civil Society. It claims to be ‘A strategy for voluntary and community groups and social enterprises’, and is a good articulation of the opportunities the Coalition wishes to see seized by these organisations. It then describes the support the Office for Civil Society (OCS) believes might be necessary to enable such bodies to realise these opportunities. We can all express our views on these issues by responding to the OCS consultation called Supporting a Stronger Civil Society. Although this is a 12 week consultation, note that the Government wants answers to one key question by November 25th. That question? How can central Government best work with national infrastructure to support and deliver the Big Society?
In the meantime, the Spending Review commits £470m over four years to capacity-building for the Third Sector, and this includes a £100m Transition Fund to tide organisations over the most difficult period. Over the weekend, however, Dame Suzie Leather of the Charity Commission pressed the panic button and announced that the sector could lose up to £5bn if local authorities and central Government reduced their commitment appreciably in the wake of Mr Osborne’s austerity programme.
Now no-one knows if that will happen; it depends how Councils and others behave. But much of the point of the Big Society is to oblige communities to enter into positive dialogue with all Sectors to explore how best to provide services and to tackle problems.
That includes the Private Sector. One should remember that one of the inspirations for the Big Society is the American culture of Corporate philanthropy, and its ability to stimulate and fund social action. It also means Companies, large and small entering into genuine and productive partnerships with other service providers – something at which we have not always excelled in the UK. We’re not just talking about the ‘Tesco-sponsored roundabout’ and other small-scale initiatives. New thinking means wholesale long-term commitment by major commercial enterprises, including oil companies, IT firms or the financial services industry – which certainly needs to improve its public image after the disasters of the past few years.
But (as discussed at greater length in our next Big Society Brief – see below), working with the Private Sector means starting a dialogue with a host of people who have not much engaged with public bodies in the past. Few local authorities have an impressive track record of consultations with small business ... or large Companies for that matter. Put six commercial MDs in a room, and they would be hard-pressed between them to tell you what different Councils deliver let alone be able to identify which ones were most suitable for their practical support. Whereas the Third Sector is pretty clued-up about public services, the private sector, generally speaking, is not!
So dialogues with the private Sector start at a different point ... with an educational task to ensure they understand the landscape where the Big Society must operate. If the Chancellor is right, and people see that We’re all in this ...together, the public sector must start to engage better with all those who may be able to help - and it could be a long and challenging process.
Trigger points
- Our next Big Society Briefing Note, The Big Society & the Private Sector is due shortly. If you are not already on our mailing list for these notes.
- The next Institute Big Society event is Engaging the Big Society on 9th Nov at our HQ in Biggleswade, Beds. For booking and information on our special combined event/accommodation deal.
This is the 173rd Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement