Defining the Big Society ...
Ritula Shah writes:
Ever since David Cameron came up with the idea of the Big Society, debate has raged about what he actually meant. He himself has described it as people coming together to solve their problems, and this week, my colleague Paul Moss reported from Salford, where he met a group of people who'd banded together to save their local pub from closure. They were a clear illustration of David Cameron's vision of The Big Society.
But across town, Paul also met a nun valiantly trying to keep a community cafe going in a deprived area that desperately needed public spaces. She spoke of the difficulty of persuading people to give their time, to work for the community.
The nun's experience would ring true with critics of The Big Society who say it's a middle class vision for people who have the time and money to volunteer. Others argue it's simply a way of disguising the rolling back of the state.
Nick Clegg addressed that point of view in his speech at the Liberal Democrats' party conference this week. He said: "I want to make something crystal clear about the coming Spending Review. It is not an ideological attack on the size of the state ... It's not smaller government I believe in. It's a different kind of government ... Putting power into people's hands."
It's undeniable that our public services are going to shrink over the next five years. Lower government spending will mean that some services we have taken for granted, will disappear. So what if anything will replace them?
The idea of social enterprise is intriguing. I've found it difficult to pin the idea down, but I was given a very clear example on the Isle of Wight last week.
Almost a quarter of the island is over 65 so there's a high demand for personal care services. It's expensive and the council is cutting back its provision. Age Concern, who were providing some services for the council, have had their funding cut too, so they've responded by going into business. They now provide carers, at commercial rates, to those who can afford to pay for them - they then plough back the profits to fund other services which they provide for those who can't pay.
Simple.
But can that model be replicated across the country for everything from transport to school to libraries? It feels like a massive cultural shift, but some point to the Victorians for inspiration, after all they invented co-operatives, mutuals and friendly societies, the original social enterprise; non profit making self help groups.
It's a very different vision of business from the "greed is good" mantra of Gordon Gecko in the eighties but it's one we may become more familiar with in the near future.
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