Live blog from the Big Society conference

This is a ‘live blog’ from today’s Big Society conference. Presentation and case studies from the day have been added to the Creating Excellence website here, with videos and more still to come . . .
 

Nearly 200 people gathered today for the Big Society Conference in Somerset Cricket Ground for discussions about what ‘Big Society’ is, what it means for public authorities and community groups in the South West, and what we should be doing about it. The diverse group of attendees including local councillors, council officers and voluntary organisations staff and volunteers were the lucky ones as the event was heavily oversubscribed, with two people interested in every place available.

You can continue commenting at the bottom of this page, it is very simple, with no need to register.

Read the comments from delegates beforehand and on the day here

Ann Watt, Deputy Director of Office of Civil Society - read Ann Watt's presentation here

John Bunting, Chair of Exeter CVS, opened the day and introduced Ann Watt, Deputy Director of Office of Civil Society, who was standing in for Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd. There was disappointment from many of the delegates that Nick Hurd was not there in person, particularly as some hoped for his response to the news that Somerset County Council was proposing 100% cuts to its voluntary sector infrastructure bodies that support the Big Society (see comments), though Ann gave a response to this question later in the day.

Ann Watt started by asking how many people could say what the Big Society meant, and about one third to half the audience raised their hand. One measure of success of the day was that when the question was repeated at the end, almost everyone said they did.

Ann explained that Big Society is not a government programme but a vision in which government plays an enabling role. It is also a philosophy that is central to government, one that David Cameron has said gets him out of bed in the mornings, the idea that ‘people in their everyday lives, homes, workplace, don’t turn to government to solve problems but feel both free and powerful enough to make decisions and find solutions for themselves.'

Ann outlined six themes of Big Society:

1. Social action - volunteering and donating money

2. Public service reform - public sector becoming a ‘better buyer‘

3. Community empowerment - defined as ‘neighbourhoods being in charge of their own destinies‘. Government plans to break down barriers to local people determining what happens in their area.

4. Decentralisation - pushing power away from central government to local government, communities and individuals

5 Transparency - making information available

6 Building capacity - recognising that government has a role as an enabler to help people take part. Government recognises that not everyone is equally able to take part.

She then outlined the various proposals for how to implement Big Soociety, including the National Youth Service volunteering scheme, four ‘vanguard’ Big Society areas, and the Big Society Bank and training for community organisers.

Ann then went on to explain that the government sees its relationship with voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises to have changed since the election, and that this change has been described in its recent strategy on civil society.

Government recognises the financial pressures on the voluntary and community sector and Ann drew attention to the document published yesterday by Office of Civil Society and NAVCA, Better Together, which gives principles and case studies on how to handle cuts and ‘make the best of a difficult. Ann commented that ‘there is pain there, but there are some ways to handle it that are better than others’ and made delegates aware of David Cameron’s recent advice to local authorities that they should ‘not just do the easy thing and cut money to the voluntary bodies and organisations’.

During the question and answer session, Ann Watt addressed the question from Katrina Midgely of Engage West Somerset about Somerset County Council’s spending cuts submitted via this website. Ann said that the Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd, was ‘really irritated by this when he heard it yesterday’, this not being part of the new vision for Big Society, but that ‘in a Big Society world, central government is not going to tell Somerset County Council what to do, this is the irony’. As a way forward for Somerset organisations campaigning against the 100% cuts to their infrastructure support, Ann suggested that they could take the messages back from the conference today, use the Better Together document, and consider speaking to their MP.

Other questions and discussion included on the role of the private sector in Big Society, about which it was acknowledged government had lots more thinking to do; how to increase volunteering when levels have plateaud for several years; and how to stop elderly people being ‘railroaded’ by much needed sheltered housing support being taken away.

Jane Scott, Leader of Wiltshire Council - read a summary of Jane Scott's speech here

Jane presented a vision of Big Society as Wiltshire has been developing it, that was described as ‘utopian’ by several delegates afterwards. She explained that Wiltshire Council, a new unitary authority, defined its vision as to build community resilience, so that communities are active and engaged in resolving problems themselves. For Jane the rationalee for this was simply that ‘people who live in places with a strong sense of community have a better quality of life, need less public services, and are happier people‘

Jane stressed that building the trust of the community was a crucial prerequisite for developing the Big Society, but that it was a slow process: don’t make decisions without talking to people first. It’s easy to say it, but harder to put into practice... it comes back to trust you have with people.

She described the Community Area Boards, in which an impressive 10,000 people participated over an 18 month period, with 20,000 on the mailing lists receiving updates. The meetings are run more informally than council meetings, and decisions taken by them are carried forward by a local councillor attending each board.

Turning to the ‘financial situation we find ourselves in’, Jane stressed that community engagement was more important now than ever. Wiltshire invests £1million in community empowerment because: ‘we think com emp is a good investment, we think it is invest to save’. She said that Wiltshire Council will be a different organisation in a few years time ‘smaller: enabling, supporting, leading, commissioning rather than delivering’. She emphasised that: ‘Wiltshire is not cutting anything to our VCS, and we do not intend to. They are important partner and will be increasingly important in years to come.’.

Questions and discussion included the concern about how to deal with nimbyism or ‘vociferous minorities’ pushing for their own interests at the expense of the rest of the community, and Jane responded that she felt it was the ‘enabling’ role of local government to ensure that all voices, particularly those most marginalised, could be heard.

Maggie Tamblin and Michelle Barnet, Speaking Up participants, and tutor Fiona Carden, Take Part Exeter

Maggie Tamblin is a school governer and teaching assistant and is doing a Level 3 Speaking Up course at with Take Part Exeter, which covers many areas including equality and diversity, voting/elections, and visits to community projects. When doing the course she said that they found they didn‘t know much about the law or Parliament, so they organised a visit to Westminster to meet their MP: ‘Some people on the course had never been to London, never mind the houses of parliament, and didn’t realise there were two houses. Since being on the course Maggie has become more involved in her community, including being brownie an guides leader, and a photographer for several community groups her daughter is involved in.

Michelle Barnet started doing the Speaking Up level 1 and 2 courses, and is now doing level 3, which is equivalent to an A level and much more intensive involving assignments. The courses are free with cchildcare, and Michelle explained that she wouldn’t be able to do them with out this, and also found the learning support provide by Exeter CVS essential. Michelle is now doing a PTTL teaching course, so that she can go on to teach others what she has learnt around active citizenship. She has also started paid work for a school as an admin assistant, and said: ‘I can’t believe I’m doing that really! I’d like to increase my hours from 4 when littlest goes to school. I’m also volunteering for a local drugs project, which all came about as a result of this course.’ Michelle is also a trained aromatherapist and is now delivering courses to other Speaking Up participants to pass on her skills.

Maggie and Michelle both got involved in Speaking Up through their local Surestart centre. The childcare provided and the tailored, flexible nature of the course are essential to its success, and the ‘magic’ ingredient is the tutor Fiona, who was described as ‘amazing’. There are just 10 people on the level 3 course but lots more across Exeter who would benefit from it. Funding for the course covers the tutor, ‘tea and cakes’ and childcare, and runs out in March 2011.

Conference facilitator Leslie Silverlock asked Maggie and Michelle if government could cut public services if more community champions like them were created. Laughing, Michelle replied that ‘if there was more childcare available it would be more accessible though, you still need that money available or it doesn’t work’.

Soad Ali and Nura Aabe, community empowerment trainers, with Ayannah Griffith, Black Development Agency - read a case study here

Soad and Nura have taken part in a ‘train the trainer’ programme delivered by Black Development Agency, and have run training for Somali women’s groups across Bristol on citizenship, elections, and how the council and the Bristol Partnership work. Using documents about Bristol Partnership that were ‘too big’, the community trainers developed materials for the courses that were easy to understand, and simple evaluation forms. The eight women who participated in the train the trainer course have all taken that learning back to their communities.

One of the key successes of the project has been the 60 people registered to vote for the first time, recruited by Nura in the run up to the election following a talk by Lee Jasper and Operation Black Vote.

Leslie asked how much the project cost, and Ayannah explained that the cost was £10,000 for a year, although this was enhanced by other resources from BDA. Leslie commented that if the salaries of all the delegates attending today’s conference were added up, this conference alone would cost £30-40 thousand, so the empowerment programme is very good value.

Explaining why the women-only nature of the course was so successful, Ayannah quoted Malcolm X: ‘to educate a man is to educate an individual, but to educate a women is to educate a family and a nation’, but that the main reason the course targeted women-only was the under representation of Black and minority ethnic women in positions of power.

You can read more about Soad and Nura in a case study.

Osea Mala Mala Nitabua, Chair of St Pauls Neighbourhood Coordination Group in Gloucestershire, with Mark Stephens, Gloucestershire Police

Osea described his experience as chair of the Neighbourhood Coordination Group which helps the community have a say in the policing of the area. Osea lives in St Pauls, considered by others a ‘bad’ part of Cheltenham. A retired teacher originally from Figi, Paul became chair of the group following training that developed his skills in communication and discipline, ensuring members of the group did not speak for too long. But the role of chair goes much further than the meetings, involving analysis and dissemination of information to and from the community. Osea is always on call for members of the community: ‘As a volunteer, the time is so much because you are walking around in your community, you talk and walk, your house is an open door. People ask you, what’s happening, have you got an answer from the police?’

Mark Stephens, Sergeant in charge of the community team at Gloucestershire Police, explained that the aim of the Neighbourhood Groups across the county was to ‘get the community together, allow them to have a say in the services that are delivered’, and the project was a partnership between Gloucestershire County Council, the Police and the voluntary sector.

You can read more about the Gloucestershire Empowerment project in a case study.

Tom Lock and Rimini Rumdan, Young Advisors Charity, with Jane Brooker-Wood,

Development Director at Young Advisors

Tom and Rimini explained that Young Advisors is a national charity made up of young people who offer advice and support, both to other young people and to adults who want to learn what young people need or how to engage them. Rimini described a community mapping project where young people identify what’s in the area, what’s not there, and what can be improved. As she put it ‘The thing about doing this with young people is that adults tend to go in straight lines, but young people bend around, they go around the area and really know it.’ They have worked on participatory budgeting projects, and ‘youth proof’ strategies so that they are accessible to ‘normal people’.

Rimini explained the effectiveness of the project being run by young people, particularly in engaging young people from ‘bad’ areas: ‘This boy we know that caused a lot of trouble round the area, he came in and he helped us out because he does a lot of DJing so he came in and did that and we showed him that he could help us’.

Barriers affecting the projects included meetings being held in the daytime when young people cannot attend, and finding funding.

Young Advisors are paid for their work, as Tom explained, to applause from the conference: ‘Young Advisor is a job, we charge £8an hour. We think that young people will not take the work seriously or be taken seriously and respected if we aren’t paid’ The training the advisors undergo is 7-30 hours, with an interview process like applying for a job, they have weekly meetings and leads across the country.

Young Advisors carry out training in youth engagement as well as running projects with young people. Rimini said: ‘We offer just as much as an adult can do, and possibly more actually. Why not pay us less to do the same job?’.

Barry Maginn, Localis - read Barry Maginn's speech here

After lunch, Barry described Big Society (with a capital BS) as a philosophy driving forward government action. He outlined many ‘truly radical’ things that voluntary organisations do that fit in with Big Society, including early intervention approaches which are successful because their primary focus is service users they are ‘build from the bottom up’. However these approaches are difficult for public sector to understand and therefore to fund because they don’t fit into the departmental divisions of public sector structure.

Barry highlighted place-based budgeting is a powerful tool when implemented well. He gave the example of Birmingham City Council’s Brighter Future initiative as particularly successful. However only a quarter of the the savings generated by preventative services were recouped by the council, the others coming under the budgets of other public bodies such as health. 

Toby Blume, Urban Forum

Toby described his understanding of Big Society as involving ‘something old’ (empowerment, localism that were supported by previous government), ‘something new’ (new language, no longer about ‘participation’ and ‘involvement’, now the more extensive ‘coproduction’ and ‘codesign’), ‘something borrowed’ (community organisers from Saul Alinsky and free schools from Sweden), and ‘something blue’ (while Thatcher would not have talked about the Big Society, Philip Blond has spoken of this tradition heading back to Disraeli’s ideas of ‘one nation’).

Three challenges in Big Society:

1. ‘Fairness’/inequality – a real risk that opportunities in Big Society are not taken up equally, free schools in Sweden are not encouraging, having neither increased attainment nor equality.
2. The ‘illness’ of polititians having to do something new – we have to find a way of proving to government that we are doing Big Society (‘if you want to, iof course you can just duck out and do your thing, which is another good strategy’)
3. Lack of clarity on the role of local government – you can’t do Big Society without the involvement of local government, but their role is being undermined.

Three survival strategies for Big Society (or ‘how to increase chances of survival in the bloodbath’)

1. Recognise that this is a long term game – it’s tempting to focus on the short term, but we have to look at the long term, because if you are not making your voice heard, someone else will
2. Reach out with an olive branch to local government - local government is struggling with spending cuts and needs support
3. Accept that things need to change, and fast – we are good at innovation in the voluntary sector, we know how to get by on very little, now is the time to share this.

The question and answer session covered discussion of multi-tiered councils and whether they are better merged as one unitary, performance management and the role of local councilors. Finally, delegates discussed and wrote an agenda for empowerment in the South West. We’ll share the full notes here soon, but some of the highlights were:

• Rename ‘Big Society’ ‘local society’
• From every cut, take a proportion of the saving made to to invest this in a fund for innovation
• Be a positive role model
• Invest in long term culture change in local government

Overall there was a strong sense of positivity from delegates, and an appetite for working together in extremely challenging times. Wrapping up a lively and stimulating day, John Bunting from Exeter CVS shared a piece of wisdom from the West Wing: ‘decision are made by people who turn up’, and thanked everyone for turning up.

Over to you…

Does this summary capture everything? What were the most striking points of the day for you? Are there questions you didn’t get the chance to ask? For those who couldn’t be there in person, what would you have contributed? Carry on the conversation here…

(If you would like to add more detail and create your own page on this site, please get in touch by emailing Isabel@southwestforum.org.uk or calling 07792 206741)