Hosted by: Funded by: The Big Society: Opportunity or Threat Pete Alcock University of Birmingham

Labour Government Legacy Third Sector Partnership Strategic investment Political profile Growth in public support – 2008: £13 bn; 36% of charity income (England and Wales, Charities, NCVO Almanac, 2010)

Grants and Contracts 2000/1 – 2007/8

General Election Campaign Consensus – welcome third sector…. Public service delivery Community engagement Compact Social Investment Bank

General Election Campaign Concerns in campaigning by third sector About impact of recession About public spending cuts Ambiguity over Conservative’s Big Society agenda

Coalition Government – Big Society back… May 18 – PM and DPM ‘Big Society at the heart of public sector reform…’ July 19 – PM Liverpool Big Society speech – ‘my great passion’

Office for Civil Society OCS replaces OTS - retains Cabinet Office role Minister for Cabinet Office – Francis Maude Minister for Civil Society – Nick Hurd House of Lords – Baroness Warsi Big Society advisor – (Lord)Nat Wei

Office for Civil Society Dropping of ‘Third Sector’ – “that term has now been abolished”, PM Cabinet Office priorities – Making it easier to run voluntary organisations Making it easier for organisations to work with the state Getting more resources into the sector

Building the Big Society New policy agenda for OCS to deliver Big Society Easier to set-up and run charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations – mutuals taskforce, new Compact Public sector workers to create employee-owned co-operatives - right to provide, right to challenge

Building the Big Society Remove ‘red tape’ – market prices for public sector contracts (‘level playing field’) – OCS/BIS taskforce Big Society Bank – from dormant bank accounts (up to £400m) National Citizens Service for 16 year olds (pilot schemes in summer 2011) Big Society Day – workplace volunteering (from civil service to civic service)

Building the Big Society Train new generation of 5000 community organisers, to become self-funding Devolve power to local government – and drive down to neighbourhoods and communities Four ‘vanguard communities’ – [Liverpool], Windsor and Maidenhead, Sutton, Eden Valley (Cumbria)

Building the Big Society But other commitments dropped Futurebuilders Capacitybuilders Commission for the Compact Or cut OCS Strategic partners

Big Society Discourses Big Society website ResPublica support Nat Wei – Coral Reef analogy sea bed – public services coral growth – social and private enterprises fish – citizens and communities

Big Society Rhetoric More than Third Sector reform – a legacy to match the ‘welfare state’! Mending ‘Broken Britain’ Remixing the Welfare State

Mending Broken Britain Community empowerment What are communities? Communities can be exclusive Engagement requires time and resources Engagement requires skills and knowledge Beware the ‘usual suspects’….

Re-mixing the Welfare State Restructuring public services Cuts in public expenditure (25%) Private and third sector delivery Market contracting and surpluses Floating off worker co-operatives Can third sector replace public provision?

Re-mixing the Welfare State Rethinking public services Co-production Outcome based commissioning Total place Personalisation What does this mean for Commissioners and TSOs?

Third Sector Challenges Change in public contracting Cuts in public expenditure Loss of horizontal support Competition with private sector and third sector organisations Collaboration, subcontracting, and restructuring

Public Sector Challenges Cuts in service budgets Competition in commissioning Partnership and collaboration Co-production and shift to front line planning Outcome focused planning

Service Delivery Challenges Market failure Organisational failure Loss of third sector unity Loss of public mandate