Transcript (extract) of a speech by the Prime Minister on the Big Society, 19 July 2010.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2026 So we need to turn government completely on its head. \u00a0The rule of this government should be this:<\/p>\n
If it unleashes community engagement \u2013 we should do it.
\nIf it crushes it \u2013 we shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
And these are the three big strands of the Big Society agenda:<\/p>\n
First, social action:
\nThe success of the Big Society will depend on the daily decisions of millions of people \u2013 on them giving their time, effort, even money, to causes around them. So government cannot remain neutral on that \u2013 it must foster and support a new culture of voluntarism, philanthropy, social action.<\/p>\n
Second, public service reform:
\nWe\u2019ve got to get rid of the centralised bureaucracy that wastes money and undermines morale. And in its place we\u2019ve got to give professionals much more freedom, and open up public services to new providers like charities, social enterprises and private companies so we get more innovation, diversity and responsiveness to public need.<\/p>\n
And third, community empowerment:
\nWe need to create communities with oomph \u2013 neighbourhoods who are in charge of their own destiny, who feel if they club together and get involved they can shape the world around them.<\/p>\n
Methods
\nIf these are the three strands of the Big Society agenda, there are also three techniques we must use to galvanise them.<\/p>\n
First, decentralization:
\nWe must push power away from central government to local government \u2013 and we shouldn\u2019t stop there. We should drive it down even further\u2026to what Phil Redmond has called the \u2018nano\u2019 level\u2026 to communities, to neighbourhoods and individuals.<\/p>\n
Second, transparency:
\nIt goes without saying, if we want people to play a bigger part in our society, we need to give them the information.<\/p>\n
So, for example, by releasing the data about precisely when and where crimes have taken place on the streets\u2026 we can give people the power not just to hold the police to account\u2026 but to go even further, and take action themselves \u2013 for instance, starting a new neighbourhood watch scheme, youth club or an after-school club if they realise that\u2019s when most of the trouble begins.<\/p>\n
Third, providing finance:
\nWe believe in paying public service providers by results. \u00a0It encourages value for money and innovation at the same time. But the potential problem is that you can lock smaller organisations out, because they don\u2019t have access to start-up capital.
\nSo government has a crucial role to play in bridging the gap \u2013 and indeed, more widely, in connecting private capital to investment in social projects.<\/p>\n
We have already said we will create a Big Society Bank to help finance social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups through intermediaries.<\/p>\n
And I can announce today that it will be established using every penny of dormant bank and building society account money allocated to England. \u00a0These unclaimed assets, alongside the private sector investment that we will leverage, will mean that the Big Society Bank will \u2013 over time \u2013 make available hundreds of millions of pounds of new finance to some of our most dynamic social organisations\u2026\u2019.<\/p>\n
For full text see: No 10 Speeches: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n PlanningBlog: LINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Transcript (extract) of a speech by the Prime Minister on the Big Society, 19 July 2010. \u2018\u2026 So we need to turn government completely on its head. \u00a0The rule of this government should be this: If it unleashes community engagement … Continue reading