Big Society, big partnership
After the recent change of government, Ralph Mitchell asks where next for the third sector?
In the run up to the election, not a day seemed to pass without the Conservatives spelling out their plans for the ‘Big Society’, with a promise of civil society at its heart.
There seems to have been a shift in recent weeks in how they are communicating this agenda, with talk now more focused on building ‘strong communities. Whatever the terminology used, a thriving third sector clearly has a key role to play in the coalition’s plans to give power to citizens and communities.
The challenges
The challenge for the new coalition government will be doing this well, in a year when they have committed to making a major dent in the budget deficit a priority.
Our offer put to the Conservatives at our joint summit in March and the Liberal Democrats in our meeting with Vince Cable MP, was to work together to transform public services so that they not only better meet the needs of citizens, but also deliver savings to the public purse.
All three parties agreed that the offer was then, and stands now, as too good to be sidelined.
It’s ACEVO’s task to ensure that the new government follows through with its pledge to work in partnership with the sector to make this vision a reality. We are not naïve about the scale of reform we are calling for, nor the challenges it will throw up.
The key to making it work will be a step change in the way government engages with our sector. This step change must be now, not once the mould is set or as an afterthought. We’ve made this a clear ask in our joint letter from 267 of our members to David Cameron MP and Nick Clegg MP.
There are several ways this could be done. For example this could be through; having a third sector leader on every departmental board; an advisory council of third sector leaders at the heart of the government; a commission on the future of government/third sector relationships; similar commissions for each of the departments; or perhaps a taskforce with the Treasury on transforming public services.
We’ve requested a meeting with the prime minister and a small delegation of members to explore the options.
Priorities for ACEVO
The Social Investment/Big Society bank
A key priority for ACEVO’s influencing work in the early days of the coalition government, is ensuring they press ahead with the formation of the Social Investment Bank or as the Conservatives renamed it in their manifesto, the Big Society Bank. The Conservatives have given a very clear message that they want to allow the third sector a much bigger role in the delivery of public services, but as they know this requires urgent investment in the sector.
There has been a consensus for some time now across the sector itself and all political parties that the most effective and sustainable method of doing this is through the creation of the Social Investment Bank. Labour made an excellent start by recognising how crucially it was needed and putting a timeline for its establishment in this year’s budget.
We know the extensive pressures and demands from all sectors the coalition will have to attempt to encompass in their emergency budget 22 June, but they simply cannot afford to delay the launch of the Big Society Bank. It will be the sector’s first real test of the coalition. Will they step up to the challenge and turn rhetoric into reality?
Reviewing regulation
Secondly, we know that the Conservatives have plans to review regulation across all sectors and remove red tape that constrains organisations. We see this as an opportunity to ensure that regulation of the sector is working effectively and that it allows room for innovative practices to flourish.
ACEVO’s taskforce on regulation is being chaired by Rupert Evenett, Chair of BTCV, and has been working in recent months to explore broad themes including:
- the need for better education about risk and regulation within the sector as well as a more coherent and proportionate approach by regulators across the sector;
- the importance of efficient co-regulation and transparency in the sector to help focus on high-impact, low frequency regulation; and
- the need for regulation around the end beneficiary impact and the importance of effective impact reporting to evidence this.
The taskforce will be launching its high level review at ACEVO’s CEO summit on 17 June.
What does the coalition government mean for third sector leaders?
Although the path ahead may be hazy for some time, what we do know is that there are going to be significant cuts to budgets and staff across all government departments.
Engaging with local and central government is going to become more tough but more important than ever and leaders are going to need to hone their skills in engaging with government at all levels.
Author: Ralph Mitchell
Ralph Michell is head of policy at ACEVO.
The policy team works to represent ACEVO members and to promote a modern, enterprising third sector through engagement with third sector leaders and those who influence the environment in which they work.
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