The Big Society and the RSA – a good match

July 6, 2010 by matthewtaylor
Filed under: Public policy, The RSA 

 I spent this morning at an event on the Big Society hosted by David Halpern’s Institute for Government. Some observations:

The audience was full of people who have spent years trying to get Labour to devolve power, take risks, engage citizens etc. The mood was one of support for the BS with an eagerness to explain why it has proven so difficult to get ministers and civil servants to understand and act on the principles. 

Lord Wei (who heads the civil society programme) gave a very coherent and comprehensive presentation. His mistake, I think, was not to be more open about the dilemmas and challenges; inviting the audience to help resolve these problems. I wondered whether the BS policy development might benefit from something like the Policy Action Teams that were put in place by Labour’s Social Exclusion taskforce. The PATs were far from perfect  but they did create a buzz of intellectual excitement and fostered collaboration, as well as developing some important ideas

David Prout from Communities and Local Government made an interesting speech but, perhaps, unfairly, the thing that people most noticed was the rather over the top praise he gave for Eric Pickles, and the speech starting with the opening – apocalyptic – paragraphs of Phillip Blond’s book, Red Tory. Blond’s book has many virtues but the exaggerated and inaccurate first paragraphs are not among them. It seems the English civil service has moved from a position of chastity (we don’t get into bed with politicians) to serial monogamy (we enthusiastically get into bed with whoever is in Government). (And, yes I’m sure that probably is New Labour’s fault.)

As usual, Barry Quirk, CEO of the Borough of Lewisham provided an engaging reality check to all this talk of community engagement. He repeated his mantra about distinguishing between social goods (things that one section of the community wants to own or have access to) and public goods – which are genuinely a  resource for the whole community. As Barry said, a big task for local authorities is trying to ensure that places like community centres feel like public as well as social goods.

The whole event underlined for me how so much of our work here at the RSA hits the Big Society button. Many of our lectures touch on these issues of civic engagement, innovation and human agency. Our research focusses on citizenship, public service co-production., social networks, place shaping. And, as a Society, our biggest project is modernising the ethos of Fellowship so that it is all about social responsibility and civic innovation. There was much talk this morning of the importance of institutions in fostering a Big Society. This is a difficult  journey along which we have travelled further than many other long standing organisations.

The RSA should be right at the heart of the public debate, not just nationally but globally and locally. Of course we make mistakes, and get things wrong but I hope everyone associated with the Society sees what a huge opportunity we now have.

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Comments

6 Comments on The Big Society and the RSA – a good match

  1. carl allen on Tue, 6th Jul 2010 8:40 pm

    2. The Big Society is and will remain subject to government whim. Such is life simply because the government has yet to demonstrate in practice and in new laws, what is the role of Big Society. But time will tell.

    For now, it is important that not-for-private-profit organisations be part of the debate on Big Society but not become integral or a match to Big Society. Unthought matches lead to marriage sometimes but divorce always. And as some charities have realised, no pre-nuptials have been signed.

    By integral, I include not dependant or part of, much as some charities havebecome little more than outsourced deliverers of public sector services. Yet still wrongly claim the charity brand.

  2. Mike Chitty on Wed, 7th Jul 2010 8:16 am

    3. Big society seems to be based on a premise that we wish to roll our sleeves up and help the government in the delivery of their agenda.

    Big society will arrive when this is reversed and the government instead rolls its sleeves up and helps citizens to develop their own agendas…

    A switch from letting strategy, planning, procurement and contracting dominate to allowing responsiveness and facilitation to grow…

  3. The network spreads… | Regen Future on Wed, 7th Jul 2010 10:03 am

    4. [...] The last suggestion was made by Nick Booth who has blogged about it here. Other recent blogs worth looking at include Julian Dobson on the Big Society in the North, Tim Davies’ blog about Young People and the Big Society and Matthew Taylor’s where he shares some thoughts about another Big Society event that took place yesterday. [...]

  4. Platform 10 » Blog Archive » The importance of Big Society, Big Schomeity on Wed, 7th Jul 2010 6:42 pm

    5. [...] those who are interested in the theory behind this movement I can recommend blogs by Nat Wei and Matthew Taylor. Unfortunately Matthew Taylor in his piece uses the acronym BS for ‘Big Society’. Where I come [...]

  5. Julian Dobson on Sat, 10th Jul 2010 9:11 am

    6. I think Barry Quirk’s comments are well worth keeping in mind as we ride this rollercoaster. And Matthew, I think you’re right to point out the need to learn from the past – the policy action teams did some really good work and the current crop of politicians and thinkers would do well to re-read some of it (or read it for the first time).

    But there’s still a sense in your post and some of the reactions to it that the Big Society is something that’s coming from government and that the people should respond to. We need to change that. Civil society belongs to all of us and we need to shape it in line with what we care about, rather than wait for someone else to set an agenda.

    That will be tough, but it is where the opportunity lies. We need to create our own spaces where we can fashion a Big Society of equals, not another set of client relationships. We’re taking some first steps towards that in Sheffield on 27 July – see http://bsitnorth.eventbrite.com/ – and all are welcome.

  6. Margaret Bowker on Mon, 12th Jul 2010 2:03 pm

    7. It was very interesting to read Matthew Taylor’s blog on the The Big Society and the RSA – A Good Match; and his concern over the dilemmas and challenges of putting the proposals into effect. It made me think about quangos and I was concerned that their reduction might happen without their specific, individual strengths being taken into account. The Partnership I attend, for example, has the strength of drawing a great many of the aspects of society together. It has open access, both before and after meetings, and questions may be asked at public question time. It is not as formal as the Council Chamber and is capable of providing a non-political platform for public concerns of every nature. Presently, it works with the Local Authority, the voluntary sector and Place Makers etc; and perhaps may evolve into more of a Forum as powers are transferred, but a forum with more weight than the average Civic Society. The bodies represented are led by a government agency which enables questioners to receive informed and influential opinion. I have been involved in the field the Big Society is seeking to develop for a considerable time, even before it was usual, and feel adaptation and restructuring is imminent

    Similarly, the country is going through the experience of considering Elected Mayors. As an activist, I found this concept appealing (as much as The Kavli RS Centre coming out to the MK/SM area), but the proposal is not as straightforward as it appears. Proposals should be worked through to their results and balanced accordingly.

    I feel Matthew Taylor is right in saying the RSA should be at the heart of public debate. As a worker in this field, I believe the time has come for considerable thinking.

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