All change
The Office for Civil Society, headed up by minister Nick Hurd has now replaced what was the Office for the Third Sector (the website content of which has now been‘archived’).
Nick is responsible for charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations in the Cabinet Office. He reports into the minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude.1 As Nick set out in his Viewpoint last month,2 his mandate now, is to:
- make it easier to run a charity;
- social enterprise and voluntary organisation;
- get more resources to the sector (dormant bank accounts being used to establish a Big Society Bank), strengthening independence and resilience; and
- make it easier for the sector to work with the government.
Further detail can be found in the policy document ‘Building the Big Society’,3 the thrust of which is a move to devolve control from central government to local government and communities. This approach is something Maude alluded to in his interview with this magazine two months ago. It remains to be seen how many of the ideas (e.g. ditching higher-rate Gift Aid and introducing a composite rate of 23p) outlined by Jenny Willott, in her Viewpoint,4 will end up forming some of the detail in ‘the range of measures to encourage charitable giving and philanthropy.’ Or indeed what role Jenny might have in the Office for Civil Society.
A round table meeting on the subject was held in the Cabinet Room in Number 10 between David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Francis Maude and Nick Hurd. Also in attendance were various community activists and leaders, including Nat Wei, founder of Teach First and former McKinsey consultant, with venture philanthropy and venture capital experience. Nat has been appointed the government’s adviser on Big Society and will be made a peer. The meeting was also attended by Martha Lane Fox, (she heads up the grantgiving foundation Antigone). The digital entrepreneur was appointed earlier in the year to establish a unit within the Cabinet Office to drive the online delivery of public services – this role continues under the new government.
NCVO boss Stuart Etherington, who has championed the term ‘civil society’ over ‘third sector’ for years, has great expectations of the new administration: ‘Civil society is driven by people themselves, by their concerns and their passions. It is where people come together to make a positive difference to their lives, and the lives of others.
It provides an important counterbalance to the power of the state and the power of the market. It gives a positive definition of the role of charities and voluntary and community organisations, rather than defining us in relation to others, or by what we are not. If we are to achieve a good society then we need all three sectors – state, market and civil society – to work together. We look forward to working with the new government as they pursue this exciting agenda.’
Notes
2. See Caritas, issue 30, May 2010, page 11
3. www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/407789/building-big-society.pdf
4. See Caritas, issue 30, May 2010, page 12
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