BIG SOCIETY AGENDA

Blunkett's 'Civil Renewal' Agenda and Cameron's 'Big Society' Agenda



Blunkett's 'Civil Renewal' Agenda and Cameron's 'Big Society' Agenda

Introduction

Cameron's 'Big Society' agenda is still being questioned and causing confusion nearly a year after the 2010 General Election. Is it just a fig leaf for the spending cuts which have generated anger and frustration nationwide, or is there a more comprehensive political vision behind the idea? Angela Kitching asks whether the Big Society has a future, and looks at what it represents to both parties in the coalition government.

With political analysts predicting the 'end of the Big Society', reports that the architect of the vision is reducing his voluntary hours at the Cabinet Office, and national outrage at the spending cuts, some people might be questioning whether the government's Big Society is going to last through 2011. Some factors fundamental to answering the question, 'What is the Big Society?' give me confidence that it could have a future (Drever, 2010, pp. 23-30).

'Big Society' has been used to describe a range of ideas central to David Cameron's political vision. The amorphous terminology of the Big Society and the frequency with which this used means that many people seem unsure as to what the Big Society is. Before the 2010 General Election, the Big Society was a political vision encompassing reduced state involvement in service delivery to the public and a corresponding increase in voluntary participation in providing these services. The idea was that when a person presented a problem, it was to their own community they should look for a solution. The increased involvement of small charities, church groups and local activists in supporting their own community was the aim of the Big Society (Conservative Party, 2010, pp. 67-75).

The reduction in state involvement in service delivery, aimed at giving such groups and active individuals the opportunity to flourish. The Big Society is not meant to embody purely a Thatcherite belief in small government; it is rather the belief that government, both local and national should be present to enable people to solve their own problems, as the guarantor rather than to be the service provider of first resort (Mohan, 2010, pp. 55-61).

The person charged with leading the delivery of Big Society politics on the ground, Lord Nat Wei described the Big Society as being like a marine ecosystem. The sea-bed is the foundation provided by central government, local government and regulatory bodies. It provides services to the most vulnerable and guarantees that no-one sinks beneath a certain level. The coral of local charities and businesses build on the sea-bed providing a range of innovative services to a wider range of individuals. The fish are individuals or neighbourhood groups, their services are hard to track and changeable, but they provide the life at the heart of the ecosystem. Without the sea-bed, the coral or the fish, the Big Society would not exist. Lord Wei believes it is up to the government to provide the ideal environment, and then, the Big Society will ...