Big Society's Big Mouth Powered by v

Building the Big Society

Community based projects and local social enterprises have been run for many years. However, a malaise in local activism and increasing centralisation under the previous Government has led to the development of the Big Society approach. This has the potential to improve local services and take citizen power to the next level.

Much has been said over the last 18 months about the Big Society and what it means for the UK. Earlier this year, The Prime Minister described the Big Society as “giving people more power and control to improve their lives and communities”. This is a mantra which is difficult to argue against, regardless of your political standpoint.

However, rather than posturing, the Coalition is taking radical steps to make this a reality. This is being achieved by a multitude of new mechanisms and approaches.

To fund new projects, a Big Society Bank is being set up, with £400m worth of capital. This is being funded from a combination of money in dormant bank accounts and from financial institutions themselves. The Government described the Bank as “a cornerstone of the social investment market”, and it will be able to co-invest in projects and underwrite and guarantee investments.

Local people themselves will now have the tools to take over local assets and services which they believe can be run or utilised more effectively. Contained within the Localism Bill are two key elements to this.

The Community Right to Challenge allows social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations to approach local authorities to request to run a service they provide. If they can show that their bid will “promote or improve the social, economic or environmental well being of the authority’s area”, then the local authority must consider putting the service out to tender.

This will allow services to be provided by local businesses and charities, helping to encourage local innovation and leading to improvements in their quality and more dynamic local economies.

Similarly, local authorities must now keep a list of ‘community assets’. Nominations for the list can be made by members of the local community and these must be considered properly. Certain conditions will then apply to assets included on the list before they can be sold by the owners, including informing the local authority and providing a moratorium period during which interested groups can seek to prepare bids.

This will result in local communities having greater involvement in the way in which local assets, such as land and buildings, can be utilised for the benefit of the local area.

However, the key element to the success of the Big Society is engaging people now and for years to come in this approach. To do so, we need to encourage a greater sense of philanthropy and volunteering in our society.

A recent Cabinet Office Green Paper on Giving, contains a number of recommendations on the former, and the Chancellor confirmed in the Budget that the Gift Aid process will be simplified, helping charities across the country.

To encouraging volunteering, a National Citizen Service is being introduced initially for 10,000 young people aged 16. It is due to begin this summer and its aim is to give “teenagers the chance to learn new skills that will help them to make a positive contribution to their community”.

This is where organisations such as V Inspired come in. Their new Big Society’s Big Mouth campaign is an opportunity for young people to express views on the issues they care about and what areas of volunteering they would like to become involved with.

Young people are the future and I hope to see many of them make a positive contribution to the debate and to building a stronger, bigger society in the years to come.
 Read less