SEPTEMBER 2018

NEWS
GOVERNMENT
Housing and civil society: Does policy point to a more co-operative future?
p Social Enterprise UK chief executive Peter Holbrook (left) and CCH head of policy Nic Bliss
The government’s new Civil Society
Strategy has received a mixed welcome
from co-ops and social enterprises.
The strategy, published last month
by the Department for Digital, Culture,
Media & Sport (DCMS), sets out how the
government will support civil society to
build “a country that works for everyone”.
James Wright, policy officer at
Co-operatives UK, which took part in the
consultation process for the document,
said: “There are some very positive
trajectories for grassroots community
empowerment, not least the £35m
of dormant account funds going into new
place-based investment programmes,
and what sounds like new backing for
community shares.
“But plans for communities in local
economic policy are underwhelming,
boiling down to more consultation within
existing power structures.”
He added: “Government seems to have
heeded our calls for the public service
mutuals programme to support user and
community ownership and control, which
could be a significant breakthrough,
especially ahead of the adult social care
reviews this autumn.
“It’s worth bearing in mind that most
of the policy levers needed to make a big
difference are not held by DCMS. Perhaps
this strategy will be most valuable as a
means to influence decision-making in
other parts of government.”
The strategy also includes plans to
spend another £55m from dormant assets
on a new financial inclusion organisation
to address the need for affordable credit.
Matt Bland, head of policy and
communication at the Association of
British Credit Unions (Abcul), said:
“Capitalisation of ambitious credit unions
can generate many times the investment
made in new lending.
“Credit unions’ affordable interest
rates, encouragement of saving and
support with budgeting skills provide
a much-needed boost to the financial
resilience of households, making them
less dependent on high-interest debt.
“We look forward to working with
the DCMS, Big Lottery and a range of
stakeholders to ensure that the new
organisation gets off to a flying start.”
Social value
Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social
Enterprise UK (SEUK), said: “We are
pleased to see a new cross-governmental
social enterprise forum, but this must
have teeth. We look forward to working
with the Cabinet Office and DCMS on
how to embed social value within central
government more effectively.”
He added: “There is a risk that the
strategy may simply push the big issues
facing society and the sector back into
the long grass. We must make sure that
this doesn’t become the reality. This
strategy must not be an end point. We
hope that it will lead to a new dynamism
within government to champion social
enterprise and social value.”
In June, minister for the Cabinet Office,
David Lidington, announced that the
Social Value Act would be extended to
ensure all government departments
explicitly evaluate social value when
commissioning services.
Chris White, author of the Social
Value Act and SEUK board member,
said: “The principles behind the Act
have the potential to work at every level
of government and should cover all public
spending – big and small, grants and
contracts. I see great potential for social
value in improving the planning system
and ensuring that decisions about public
assets take into account not just financial
cost but their intrinsic social value.”
In terms of housing, the strategy
reveals that the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government is
exploring the potential of transfers of
public land to community-led housing
initiatives, such as Community Land
Trusts, by which residents become
members of a trust which holds land
and housing.
Nic Bliss, head of policy at the
Confederation of Co-operative Housing
(CCH), said: “It is welcome that the
strategy refers to community-led housing
– and we are pleased to be working with
the government.”
But he warned: “We are light years
away from its aspirations in reality. We
live in an astonishingly paternalistic
society where our aim is to do help to
people rather than help people to help
themselves – particularly as we get down
the income scale.
“My brief assessment of this strategy
is that it will struggle to challenge this
paternalism, particularly because they
are understandably wanting to take with
them organisations that might assist in
the overall strategy, who might be the
source of that paternalism.
“This is particularly noticeable in the
housing sector. There are small number
6 | SEPTEMBER 2018