Tory Campaign Success! (for Labour)

Heartfelt thanks to Exeter's Tories for their campaigning efforts in Pinhoe recently (no, really.) On Saturday I attended a Labour councillors' coffee morning at the United Reformed Church hall in Old Pinn Lane, where I had the pleasure of meeting some of our new supporters, volunteers and members.

Cllr Saxon Spence, Cllr Moira MacDonald, former Cllr Val Dixon
and I at the United Reformed Church in Old Pinn Lane

It was a particular pleasure to meet Mr & Mrs T who live not too far from me, and were recently called on by local Exeter Tories. They were signed up to a postal vote and spoke to the Tory team for a while...

...They then immediately got in touch with Exeter Labour and asked how they could join us and help our campaign.

So thank you to Exeter's Tory campaigning operation. Whatever it is you are doing, please do keep it up!

What Would Yolonda Do?

"Give me somewhere to stand and I will move the world" - Archimedes

I don't know about you, but I think politicians should stand for something. There should be something driving them - values, or a sense of mission - some passion, some vision, some sense that things can be different, be better. 

Exeter's Tories are BACKING the hugely unpopular
NHS Bill

Readers will know that I have been pressing Exeter's Tories to just come out and say whether they support the deeply unpopular NHS Bill or not. For weeks, I was met with silence. Then finally, Conservative Councillor for Polsloe, James Taghdissian told me, "Exeter Conservatives support Conservative Policy, Simon. Would be bigger news if we didn't. Get real!" So that told me.

(Actually, Exeter Conservatives do not always agree with Conservative policy. You can read how local Tories tried to rally behind the locally popular call for unitary status for Exeter here, when official Tory policy was to withdraw Exeter's bid to run its own affairs.)

Anyhow, we now know that despite massive professional opposition, despite huge public opposition (Labour has an 18 point lead on the NHS as an issue), despite the huge contribution the NHS makes to Exeter's economy and employment market, despite their coalition partners voting to withdraw support for the NHS Bill, and despite the government refusing to comply with a court order to publish the NHS Bill risk register, Exeter's Tories still support Lansley's disastrous course of action. this much we know. 

But what else do they stand for? What is their vision for the city? The Express & Echo this week carried news of Labour's manifesto for the 2012 local elections (more on that later) and next to it an article on the local Tory proposals.

Weekly bin collections have been
championed by Eric Pickles.

However, the extent of their vision is...well... rubbish. Literally. The focus of Exeter Tories' manifesto to date would it appears extend little further than collecting your bin weekly. Genius. 


The public is underwhelmed. In the very first response posted on the Express & Echo comments on the story, "DeeJayTee" wrote:

So, in a mission to find out what exactly the Tories are peddling on the doorsteps of the city, I went to their website. There was a tab, boldly stating "Manifesto 2012". Aha! Here must be the big picture, the grand designs, the bold future set out. Er.... no.

"Coming soon..." Hmmm.

"How odd," I thought. You see, last month Exeter Labour councillors, candidates and activists held a day planning our manifesto. We were very excited to do so. We had people come down and speak to us from the Local Government Association and the Co-operative movement, and we thrashed out our priorities for the city and how they could be achieved. Cllr Paul Bull got very excited (as he does) and tweeted what a great day we'd had. The response from local Tory Jake Donovon on the 14th February was: 

"Exeter Tories manifesto was finalised back in September." Not started. Finalised. Yet here we are 6 months on and the Exeter Conservative website is distinctly lacking in manifesto. I also had a chuckle at the idea of finalising a manifesto before the autumn budget statement and before the local authorities' settlements from central government had been announced! Unless they have staggering powers of clairvoyance they were presumably deciding in the autumn of 2011 how they would spend a budget that was not actually set until last month!

"Exeter Tories manifesto," declared Jake, "offers Exeter city residents the change of direction and leadership she [sic] really needs."

I would say that so far their manifesto offers not so much a change of direction or leadership, but more a change of bin.

So, on to Labour. I have previously written in my blog that under Labour Exeter is thriving. However, we do not want to be complacent or rest on our laurels. This week saw the publication of our manifesto, and you can see it here. 

Major companies are investing in Exeter's economic growth under Labour

Please take the time to read it. We are excited about a Labour-led future for the city, and we think you will be too. We have exciting plans for more affordable housing through a co-operative community model; more environmentally sustainable buildings - both public buildings and homes; more play areas and enhanced open spaces; more support for communities that have ideas on projects in their own areas; economic growth and improved employment - particularly for young people through a new apprenticeship scheme; and an improved and enhanced city centre we can all value and be proud of. 

Cooperative housing is seen as a fairer and more
progressive way to deliver homes in countries like Sweden, above

It is a bold, ambitious and exciting picture we paint. Already the bleating has started from both the Tories and Lib Dems. Maybe they should stick to worrying about bin collections. We have no intention of thinking smaller thoughts for our city, though. As Michaelangelo said:

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

PS: Talking of the Lib Dems, what of their great vision for the city? As of today, there is no manifesto yet on their site. However, they would like you to "Vote Yes to AV" on ...er.... the 5th May last year. Finger on the pulse of modern political dialogue as ever, then...!

The Power of Words, The Power of Action

"A nation that cannot read is easy to deceive", as Ernesto "Che" Guevara once said. Literacy, and the access to books and information, is essential to our democracy, to the development of ideas, to the well-being of our communities.

Yesterday had a distinct "bookish" theme for me. During the working day, I attended a conference: "Culture, Health & Well-Being and Strategic Commissioning". It was a fascinating conference highlighting the role that culture and the arts can play in better health outcomes, improving quality of life, reducing isolation, and saving money for our health service (well, while it is still "ours.") As one GP put it, "We can restore the body, but we cannot restore a patient's appetite for life. Culture can."

Head of Libraries, Ciara Eastell

During the day we were addressed by Ciara Eastell, Head of Library Services at Devon County Council. She described the role libraries can play in promoting better health and well-being. Libraries, despite deep cuts to their services that have meant many job losses across Devon, are trying hard to forge new partnerships and new projects that will make them "community hubs" - sources of information that will enable people to learn more about conditions they may suffer from, and be more involved in their own self-management. This empowers the patient, demystifies the condition (reducing anxiety and fear) and potentially saves the NHS money on unnecessary appointments.

Devon's 50 libraries were used by over 3 million people last year and Exeter Central Library had more visitors last year than any Devon visitor attraction. Exeter clearly has an amazing appetite for reading and information. That is why I was delighted when the news came through that Exeter Central Library is to get a £4.1 million refurbishment. Anyone who has visited the main library will know that while the contents cannot be faulted, the building itself is no longer fit for purpose. Environmentally, it is in poor shape - cold in the winter, warm in the summer - with huge voids that are hard to heat. Access is a problem, particularly for the elderly, or people with disability or a chronic illness. Wheelchair access is currently through what is, in effect, a service lift shaft. 

Exeter Central Library

You will also know that aesthetically it is not exactly the part of the town that is most pleasing on the eye! Deteriorating1960s concrete structures and alcohol-fuelled anti-social behaviour pretty much sum the area up! It could be so different, and now we have some investment, Exeter City Council is talking to the County Council about how we might improve and redesign the area. The library (like the new Royal Albert Memorial Museum - RAMM) will have an access out onto Rougemont Gardens. The triangulation of the library, the RAMM and the Phoenix Arts Centre will create a "cultural quarter" for the city, adjacent to what are the oldest municipal public gardens in England. This is an exciting development we will all be proud of, I'm sure, and sees the continuing improvement of the city as part of the overall vision for Exeter that the Labour leadership of the city council has. 

Pinhoe Library

Continuing the bookish theme of my day, my evening was spent at the AGM of the Friends of Pinhoe Library. What a dynamic group that is, and a great example of the community and voluntary sector working in partnership with public services. The Friends' secretary, John Thorndyke, reported what a tough year it had been for the service in Pinhoe, with the library staff being reduced to a single librarian, Frances Kearns. Despite these cuts, registered users were up, as were the number of items borrowed. It was a pleasure to speak to John afterwards, and as with the Pinhoe Community Association and Pinhoe Pantomime Society, talk with John about how in my capacity as Business Development Manager at Exeter CVS  I could help ensure that the Friends' have a sustainable future with funding and partnership ideas. Similarly Ciara (who was speaking at our local meeting too) had a chat to me about how CVS and our Volunteer Centre could support the growing role volunteers might play in supporting local libraries. All-in-all a very productive meeting. I even gathered a couple of new "endorsers" - people who want to formally support my candidacy for Pinhoe.

The amusing footnote to all this was a Twitter exchange with yet another local Tory that evening. The Tory "Twitterati" seem a tad upset with me, perhaps because every day for weeks I have asked them to publicly state whether or not they support the NHS Bill. (They still haven't given an answer.) You will see from previous posts that local Tories are not keen on talking issues or the effectiveness of candidates, and would rather make this a personal fight. Their very first leaflet of the campaign was mostly about me, they took their publicity shots outside my home in Rews Park Drive, and last month contacted some of my Conservative friends in Dorset to ask them "if they had any useful information" about me. Classy.


So last night, this local particular Conservative seemed confused about my current position, seemingly believing I was simultaneously a councillor in Dorset and Devon. I patiently explained that I have been a councillor in Weymouth for 8 years. For almost 6 of those years, I have been working in Exeter with my "day job" in community services. For 3 of those 6 years, I commuted daily and then, following my divorce, I moved to Devon - and continued as an effective councillor in Weymouth as it was cheaper for the council than holding a by-election, and there were a number of projects I was committed too, not least (continuing our book theme) saving my ward's library from Tory cuts. I am delighted that campaign was a success, and Littlemoor Library was saved after I set up a campaign website on Facebook Causes, and challenged the County Council over whether they had carried out an Equalities Impact Assessment on the closure. Then we successfully secured £1 million of Big Lottery "Big Community Fund" investment for the ward, which will make a huge difference to what has traditionally been a deprived community. 


In April, as the election period starts, I shall be standing down from Weymouth Council (indeed, I have already had my last Full Council meeting there) and will be solely focused on Exeter - now very much my home city. My would-be adversary felt that somehow I was split. I do not know what is so hard to grasp about having a day job in one place, and a political life in another, and being very effective in both, but she was clearly struggling with it. 

Me... in the office.

"Your residents haven't had an effective councillor as you've been in Exeter," appeared to be the argument. 


Er.... the library is safe, crime and anti-social behaviour is down, £1 million of community investment, new magnet play site, new skate park, new multi-use games area, new park and ride site.... Even last month there have been letters to the local paper thanking me for trying to save the estate's public toilets from closure, and a letter from school children thanking me for the skate park.


"Ah! Then Exeter is losing out."


Er... This year alone I have secured over £500k of investment into Exeter's community sector. In my time working here in all it runs into millions, including securing a £4 million+ contract for drug services for a local partnership of the NHS and a voluntary sector provider. Locally, I am already being contacted by residents with issues, and in the past few weeks have been involved in getting pavements repaired, anti-social behaviour reduced, and working on getting youth services improved. You see, it's all about being effective. You could be resident somewhere for many years, even be the councillor for an area, and never actually do or achieve very much.


I'm an activist, always have been. I have worked my entire career in community work, because seeing communities galvanise to become stronger energises me, and motivates me. If I am elected, Pinhoe will have my unfailing drive, energy and ideas. I know we will achieve things here, because - frankly - that is my track record, whether in my career or in my political life. 

Activists: Cllr Moira MacDonald, Cllr Saxon Spence
& I at the opening of the unique youth shelter in Arena Park 

As I learned from my day of libraries, words have profound power to change lives - and that has value. But sometimes it's all about action too. 


On May 3rd Pinhoe can choose a Labour & Co-op candidate who is not just a resident, nor just a representative. I am an activist, a natural volunteer, and even more than that, my track record shows that I am effective, and I deliver. Working with my Labour colleagues locally - Cllr Moira MacDonald, Cllr Saxon Spence and Ben Bradshaw MP I am excited at how much we can do together for Pinhoe!


Thank you for your support.

I suppose I should be flattered, BUT...

It's all started to get a bit... well, "creepy" with Exeter's Tories.

You might recall that their opening salvo in this election campaign was a leaflet all about me, suggesting I was somehow "parachuted" into Exeter specifically for this campaign. (I have in fact been working in the city for over six years, and living here for over three.) I suppose that leaflet should have sounded warning bells for me that this lot were the political equivalent of a slightly obsessive new boy or girlfriend, more obsessed with me than with their own campaign.

Off all the houses in all the world...

Next came the slightly unsettling tweeting of a photo of Cllr Thompson and her two little helpers out in Pinhoe on the campaign trail... it's just that out of all the locations in Pinhoe for their picture, they chose my home as the backdrop. Weird.

Me. (Looking fat.)

Then earlier this week they had gone to the effort of tweeting the link to my homepage on Weymouth Council's website, to demonstrate that...er... I have been a councillor for 8 successful years. (I was a bit cross about that tweet to be honest. I HATE that photo on the webpage, I look fat in it.)

Cllr Pete Chapman (on the right - as ever)

Anyway, last night was my last Full Council meeting at Weymouth & Portland. Before the meeting I went for a drink with my partner and a few friends, and that included the Conservative Briefholder for Finance and Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Pete Chapman. Pete and I disagree spectacularly on political philosophy, but I have a great deal of respect for him and cannot deny that he is dedicated, reasonable and knows his stuff. He's also a good laugh. Outside of meetings, we enjoy a bit of banter, and I count him as a friend. Pete is a Plymouthian originally, so he often takes an interest in how Devon is doing, and our conversation got round to how things are working out politically down here.

"That reminds me," said Pete, "you seem to have caused a stir down there."

"Have I?" I was a tad bemused.

"I had a call from our office," said Pete, referring to his Constituency Party, South Dorset Conservatives. "They had been contacted by Exeter Conservatives, apparently," he went on.

"Oh?"

"Yes, apparently they wanted to know if we knew 'any useful information' about you."

Unbelievable. 

Pete went on to say that his answer is what I thought it would be.

"I just said you were a bloody good councillor and that we were friends," and then, grinning, "and that you are good for the odd full-blown political row."

My good friend and former
Tory councillor Roger Allen

Later we were joined by former Tory Councillor Roger Allen, another good friend. 

"You'll be missed." he said. "You're one of the few Councillors who has a clue up here." Roger is well known for his forthright views, but on this occasion it was good to hear.

In the meeting, I asked the council leader, Tory Councillor Mike Goodman (who has championed housing issues very energetically for years) whether I could step down from Weymouth knowing that housing would remain a key priority for the Borough. "I am grateful to Cllr Bowkett for asking that, I know it is an issue he has fought hard on for many years. And I think he knows that so long as I am leader, housing will remain the key priority here." I disagree with Mike on a lot, but I respect him enormously, and applaud his stance on local housing issues.

It's very satisfying to know that my peers, including my political "adversaries", are happy to say that I am a good councillor, and have done a good job. It was with cross-party support that I took the Chair of the Audit committee for 4 years, was elected by a partnership of 9 local authorities to chair the regional South West Audit Partnership, and more latterly elected me to chair the Scrutiny & Performance committee. Knowing I had the confidence and goodwill of councillors of all groups, and of officers, I have been able to achieve much more than I could have done otherwise. I look forward to making a similar impact in Exeter for Pinhoe.

All of which makes me more bewildered at Exeter Tories' behaviour and wondering quite what they are up to? If they want to know "any useful information" about me, they could just ask me. Maybe they have a bored, recently unemployed News of the World journalist in their ranks? Will I have a "fake sheikh" showing up on my doorstep sometime soon? Should I be ensuring my voicemail messages are encrypted? 

So, to save them any further efforts: 

My middle name is Jonathan. My first pet was a dutch dwarf rabbit called Moppet. (After Moppet, I kept stick insects, but that got rather out of hand.) I don't have a favorite food as such, I like ALL food (except melon - long story.) I support Chelsea (yes, I know) but also try to watch a live football game in any country I visit. I read a lot, and particularly enjoy Ernest Hemingway or anything about the Spanish Civil War. Favorite movies include Mississippi Burning, Milk, Gainsburg, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I have a scar on the little finger of my right hand from an accident while collecting amethyst from a Cornish cliff when I was 9. My youngest son, Eddie, is actually named "Edson" after Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele. My oldest son, Sennen, is named after my favorite surf beach. My shoe size is 11. And if you are trying to find guilty secrets, I confess - I have been a contestant on the Weakest Link (twice - another long story) and am a rather compulsive viewer of the AMC zombie series "The Walking Dead..."

Now if there's nothing else, I'm off to fit a lock to my dustbin...

The Big Society Problem...Part Two: The Social Capital Problem

As we saw in the last posting, ask Tory politicians what the "Big Society" is, and you are likely to get as many different answers as there are politicians. (If they are being very honest, they may even tell you that they don't believe in it themselves, and the Tory press and blogosphere has been equally sceptical.) In many respects, attempts at defining the "Big Society" has been hugely problematic for the government. Phillip Blond, author of the book "Red Tory" and a "guru" of the ‘Big Society’, has become deeply unhappy with whole project, complaining that the Government is ‘losing itsexpressed concern:

“We know the Big Society narrative was very badly communicated … it was insufficiently thought through, and… people now think of it as just volunteering and philanthropy - which is a disaster.”

On other hand some Big Society "purists" would argue it should not be defined at all - that each community must work out what it means for them. Lord Nat Wei, the "Big Society Tsar" tried to sum it up succinctly. The Big Society is, he said, defined by 3 characteristics:

1. The needs of different places are dealt with in different ways

2. It lets people take control

3. It leads to similar senses of community arising in inner-city and rural areas that weren't there before. (Apparently the surburbs are far more likely to have the Big Society in operation)

Lord Wei

Ironically, after less than a year in his post as "tsar", Wei resigned, saying that the 3-day-a-week unpaid role was incompatible with "having a life." Volunteering has its limits even for a millionaire, it seems.

So the Big Society was to be about empowerment for communities; public services being delivered in different ways - possibly by voluntary groups or social enterprises; "localism & decentralisation" - local communities deciding what is best for them without government interference; and a greater sense of mutual responsibility and community brought about by an increase in altruistic volunteering and philanthropic giving from individuals and companies.

Lofty and laudible aims perhaps, but to the sceptics the Big Society was a cynical attempt by Cameron to decontaminate the "toxic" brand of Conservatives as the "nasty party", or was a cover for deep and prolonged cuts that would shift blame from the government to the communities themselves. If your community lacked facilities and infrastructure now, it would not be the government's fault, but yours. Your community was simply not motivated and / or organised enough.

In some respects, the idea of communities solving their own problems may be appealing - as may be the idea that community assets might transfer to citizen-led organisations - creating a greater sense of community pride, and costing the public purse less. However, let's examine how that might happen. Let's think about two communities:

The first is a community where skills are lower than average, has lower levels of academic achievement, unemployment is higher, and those in work are often in low-wage jobs, meaning people work long hours or hold several jobs to make ends meet. Many are in rented housing, meaning the community has a high "churn" - people may not stay for long. The estate has a higher proportion of people for whom English is second language, single-parent households, and those on disability benefits.

The second community is made up of mostly privately-owned homes, meaning people are largely more "rooted" in the community. The population is made up of people from professional backgrounds - business people, solicitors, academics. A good proportion are retired, financially independent and with time on their hands. They are well-networked, and have influence.

The two communities' libraries are under threat from the local authority cuts, but the council has pointed out that they might want to think about running the libraries themselves under the new "localism" and "opening public services" agendas. The communities think about taking on the buildings as community assets, and using volunteers to staff them. Can you see the problem?

The second community will be motivated and mobilise. People know each other, and have a long-term shared commitment to their neighbourhood. Many in the first community do not know if they will still live there when their tenancy ends - and in many cases that tenancy may only be 6 or 12 months in total. 

The second community will develop a business plan, and will pull on its professional and social networks to secure pro bono services to transfer the asset. Legal advice, conveyancing services, insurance services, surveying are all accessed with relative ease. Detailed funding applications are made to social financiers, and fundraising networks appeal to well-heeled residents. The first community is advised about all it will need, and begins to cost out the same professional services. Already the scale of the task seems colossal, and many are feeling demotivated. The people on the estate have little or no spare money to invest themselves, and funding applications, without support, are badly worded or structured and are regularly rejected in the competitive world of grant funding. Social finance is hard to access as the people in the community have often had a bad experience with credit.

The second community has people with time on their hands - the wealthy retired, and people who are able to stay at home, or work part-time, because their partner's income is more than sufficient. These people are able and willing to give their time to the library project, and their level of skills, education and social skills mean that they can quickly grasp what is required of them and complete their tasks ably. The first community has people who have to work in several jobs to make ends meet. They are carers, casual labourers, shop staff. They do not know from one week to the next what their shifts and working hours will be, making it very difficult to commit with any certainty to being at the library at specific times. When they are able to make it, the job itself may feel very new and intimidating without extensive training.

And so it goes on. The communities do not start from an equal place, and in the "go and do it" world of Big Society those already most resilient and well equipped are most likely to succeed. That is where infrastructure services (like Exeter CVS) come in. In our community development capacity we can work with communities and fledgling projects to help them, support them, train them. The government might point towards investment such as the £400k Exeter CVS recently won from the Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund as an example of their adding capacity to the sector. But there's a catch. This money is designed to streamline services and maximise efficiency. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the ultimate aim is for infrastructure "to be less reliant on state funding." Put another way, to be in a position to charge for our services. So our communities would pay us as a professional service. 


The problem is, as we have seen, that communities like "community 1" in the example above does not start with any money. Later this year, the government is proposing a fund that would see communities bidding for grants in order to buy in infrastructure services. This may seem fair enough at first glance (if a somewhat convoluted way of funding!) , but we are back to the issue that without support to start with, some communities will be in a better position to bid than others....

As someone said to me recently, "The Big Society is turning into the Everyone-for-Themselves Society where the strongest communities grow stronger still, and the poorest areas decline still further."

The Big Society Problem... Part One

I love my job. I work for Exeter Council for Voluntary Service as their Business & Services Development Manager. In a nutshell, it is our job to work with voluntary & community groups to help them to establish themselves, to work effectively, and to develop and flourish. We deliver consultancy, business planning advice, training, guidance on governance, and help with recruiting and managing volunteers. My job - if you like - is to get people involved and active in their communities, to promote social action.

On March 15th we will be hosting a showcase event at Exeter University's Innovation Centre  where people can come and be trained in social action, and be inspired by stories of local people who have got involved and made a difference in communities. Not just communities in Exeter - our "active citizens" have developed links to Ethiopia, Kenya, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania and more. So I tweeted a plug for our event, as we often use social media to promote what is going on at CVS.

A day later I had a reply from a local Tory activist who, flatteringly perhaps, follows me rather closely. "Social Action - the heart of the modern Conservative party" he said, "...glad we finally agree on something." I couldn't let that go. I live and breathe the community sector, I care passionately about it - I have worked almost all my career with community groups, and I know how the sector is faring under this government. Things are bad, and getting worse. 

So this post is for anyone else who ever believed that the "Big Society" vision was anything other than window-dressing as part of the Tory attempt to "decontaminate the brand". After Margaret Thatcher had so famously declared in the 1980s that "there is no such thing as society", the Tories were desperate to show that they could "talk community" as well as the next party. 

First off, no one within the Conservative party itself seems to quite know or understand what the "Big Society" is supposed to be, and they certainly do not seem very committed to it. For a "flagship policy", or "the heart of the modern Conservative party" as my local Tory follower would have it, it doesn't appear to have much "buy-in". The ministerial committee that was responsible for promoting the Big Society agenda and ensuring it was embedded within all levels of government hasn't met since March 2011. Almost a year.

The very concept of volunteering it is simply not understood by ministers. I attend the All Party Parliamentary Group for Volunteering at the House of Commons most months, and while there had an opportunity to have a discussion with a prominent West Country Conservative MP who mentioned the Big Society. "Interesting," I said, "tell me, how exactly would you sum up the Big Society project?"

"Well," he said, "...you know... it's people like you. Doing what you do. Your lot doing the good work you do instead of the government doing it."

"I see." I said, "And how will that be paid for?"

"Ah, well that's the point," he said, looking very pleased with himself, "it's free, isn't it?"

No. No It isn't. Volunteering and social action costs money to support. The community sector contributes a huge amount to our society and our communities, but it is not free. Volunteers need advice and guidance to find the opportunities that best suit their passions, their experience, their skills. The organisations that host volunteers need support to recruit them, to ensure they comply with the law. If the volunteer also receives benefits then they need advice on how to be active without jeopardising their benefit entitlement. Volunteers need training and developing. They need management, and management costs. 

In times of hardship the sector needs more investment, not less - not least because more people want to use our services when times are hard. Voluntary sector organisations can offer more "bang for your buck" than a profit-making company because - by definition - some of its outputs will be achieved through volunteering. Eric Pickles - the Local Government minister - made a plea to Local Authorities not to simply achieve their required cuts targets by cutting the local voluntary sector unreasonably. 

Nick Hurd

Unfortunately, Tory-led Nottinghamshire County Council made sweeping cuts to their charities. The Chief Executive of the National Association for Voluntary & Community Action (NACVA) called on the government to intervene - after all, Nottinghamshire had flagrantly gone against the advice of the minister. Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society (in theory responsible for the voluntary sector) was asked whether the government would step in. No, he said - that was not the government's role. "Councils answer to their people, not the government." So it seems that perhaps the "guidance" from Pickles had no teeth when dealing with councils led by his own party.

Except, the following day, Pickles said he would intervene after all (if you call a stern letter "intervening"), so it would appear that one part of government is not at all clear or talking to other parts about what its stance on the relationship between national government, local government and the voluntary sector actually is.

If "social action is at the heart of the modern Conservative party", it might want to get that heart looked at...!

Eric Pickles. And a thumb. (The thumb is on the right.)

Next post we will look at how charities and community groups are faring under the coalition

Pinhoe Newsletter

PIN Winter 2012v2