'Only a footstep away' - Skills for Care - Think Local Act Personal

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to schools and young people. In 2005 theformer Office of the Deputy Prime Ministerpublished Why Neighbourhoods Matter(ODPM 2005) which identified several waysin which neighbourhood level activity canbe socially beneficial. Such activity, it wasargued, can:• make a real difference to the qualityand responsiveness of services thatare delivered to or affect thoseneighbourhoods• increase the involvement of thecommunity in the making ofdecisions on the provision of thoseservices and on the life of theneighbourhood• provide opportunities for publicservice providers and voluntary andcommunity groups to work togetherto deliver outcomes for the locality• build social capital—reducingisolation whilst building communitycapacity and cohesion.1.6 Indeed the neighbourhood questionhas now spread beyond specific policyinitiatives to become a key part of thewider ideological debate about finding theright balance between central governmentand ‘localism’. It was reported, forexample, that the Labour Party wasconsidering a manifesto pledge to turnschools and hospitals into ‘mutualised coops’where staff and local people have areal stake in service improvement. In theevent, the Labour manifesto (Labour 2010)took a softer line with a commitment topromoting social enterprises, including aright for public sector workers to requestthat front line services be delivered througha social enterprise. The manifesto alsoacknowledged ‘the new mutualism’reflected in “growing interest in cooperativeand mutual organisations thatpeople trust, and that have the capacity tounleash creativity and innovation, creating‘Only a footstep away’? 2new jobs and services – particularly indisadvantaged neighbourhoods wheretraditional approaches have failed in thepast.” (Labour 2010, 7:5)1.7 The Conservative Party has placedemphasis upon encouraging families,charities and communities to cometogether to solve problems (Guardian2009), and their election manifestohighlighted the ambition for “every adultcitizen being a member of an activeneighbourhood group,” and outlined plansto introduce a National Citizen Service for16 year olds “to help bring our countrytogether” (Conservative 2010). Morebroadly, this manifesto expressed anaspiration to build the ‘big society’, “to helpstimulate social action, helping socialenterprises to deliver public services andtraining new community organisers.” Thecentral theme of the manifesto wasempowering individuals and communitiesto take greater local control, and in doingso the Conservatives were clearly movinginto territory that has traditionally beenmore closely associated with the LabourParty.1.8 The Liberal Democrat manifestosimilarly stated a commitment “to handingpower back to local communities. Webelieve that society is strengthened bycommunities coming together andengaging in voluntary activity, which setspeople and neighbourhoods free to tacklelocal problems.” (LD 2010)building the ‘big society’1.9 The outcome of the General Electionin May 2010 resulted in a hung parliamentand subsequently to the establishment of acoalition government between theConservatives and the Liberal Democrats.The initial coalition agreement documentset out 11 key issues that needed to beresolved “in order for us to work togetheras a strong and stable government" (Con
LD 2010). The agreement was intended asa platform on which other elements wereto build. The first of these to be published(on 18 May) addressed the ‘big society’,and the new Prime Minister described thisas “a big signal” about the importanceattached to the issues of decentralisingpower and empowering communities. The“driving ambition” of the coalitiongovernment is stated as being “to putmore power and opportunity into people’shands” (HMG 2010a) The statement on thebig society went on to highlight the need to“draw on the skills and expertise of peopleacross the country as we respond to thesocial, political and economic challengesBritain faces.” Five key areas of agreementwere set out:• give communities more powers• encourage people to take an activerole in their communities• transfer power from central to localgovernment• support co-ops, mutuals, charitiesand social enterprises• publish government data.1.10 Volunteering and involvement insocial action are to be encouraged, andthe idea of a National Citizen Service thatwas set out in the Conservative manifestois to be taken forward, initially in aprogramme for 16 year olds “to give thema chance to develop the skills needed tobe active and responsible citizens, mix withpeople from different backgrounds, andstart getting involved in their communities.”In supporting communities to do more forthemselves and each other, and toestablish neighbourhood groups acrossthe UK, a new generation of communityorganisers is to be trained. (HMG 2010b)1.11 Mutuals, co-operatives, charities andsocial enterprises are to be supported andto have greater involvement in the running‘Only a footstep away’? 3of public services. Funds from dormantbank accounts will be used to establish a‘Big Society Bank’ to ”provide new financefor neighbourhood groups, charities, socialenterprise and other non-governmentalbodies.”1.12 In launching the idea of the bigsociety the Prime Minister acknowledgedthe financial situation and the difficultchoices facing government spending, andstated that he did not “have some naivebelief that the Big Society just springs up inits place.” Rather, the agenda forgovernment needed to be how to enablethe third sector to “do even more of whatyou do.” The PM went on to say that hewanted this work “to be one of the greatlegacies of this government: building theBig Society.” (PM 2010)1.13 The new Deputy PM, Nick Clegg,also endorsed the approach and arguedthat the parties had been using differentwords for a long time but meaning thesame thing in terms of liberalism,empowerment and responsibility. Thechallenge would be to bring about “a hugecultural shift, where people, in theireveryday lives, in their communities, in theirhomes, on their street, don’t always turn toanswers from officialdom, from localauthorities, from government, but that theyfeel both free and empowered to helpthemselves and help their owncommunities.” (DPM 2010)1.14 Ideas of neighbourhood andcommunity are clearly of growing politicalimportance, and it is evident that thesethemes will be major components of thepolicy agenda for the new coalitionadministration (HMG 2010b). However, torecognise the significance ofneighbourhood is only the starting point inunderstanding a complex and contestedconcept, along with its associated policydevelopments. In this report our approach
Page 1 and 2: we identifynew andinnovativeways of
Page 3 and 4: acknowledgementsThis paper was comm
Page 5 and 6: executive summary1. This paper is a
Page 7: 1 introduction1.1 This report is a
Page 11 and 12: Abrams notes that the placing of re
Page 13 and 14: neighbourhood.” (Blackman 2006, 2
Page 15 and 16: describe certain disadvantaged area
Page 17 and 18: 3.21 In this context, White (2002)
Page 19 and 20: “social responsibility, volunteer
Page 21 and 22: neighbourhood policing (HO 2010) wh
Page 23 and 24: collective (‘I pledge to do X if
Page 25 and 26: the province of the community rathe
Page 27 and 28: Deficit ApproachStarts with deficie
Page 30 and 31: communities may have different leve
Page 32 and 33: and disorder, under-performing heal
Page 34 and 35: 6 conclusions and nextsteps6.1 It i
Page 36 and 37: any attempt to link these elements
Page 38 and 39: eferencesADASS 2010Bartnick, E and
Page 40 and 41: LD 2010Liberal Democrats (2010), Li

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