'Big society' needs more work, says former Hurd adviser

Last month, in Spain, all the grandmothers went on strike . I found this out during a discussion with group of councils in Corby, near Northamptonshire. The atmosphere was engaged, if tense. The councils' star chamber was to take place that afternoon; in it they would map out the effect of the imminent cuts on the services they deliver. One gentleman in particular, whose expertise was in social care, was impassioned. "We have to do this!" he yelled at one point. "The grandmothers crippled their public services!" This, of course, is the nub of the "big society" approach: to recognise and support the hidden value of relationships in our communities, and to work with them. On these terms, the big society is not about outsourcing huge swathes of services to organisations constituted as voluntary. That may be beneficial – we all like plurality of supply, choice and the long-term gains that come from civil society service delivery – but it is not the whole story. And if we were to suppose it was, a few welcome reviews from cabinet office minister Francis Maude and minister for civil society Nick Hurd aside, not a great deal that is new could be said to have yet been achieved by our new government. The vision, I think, is broader than that, and as such, its effects will take more time to leach through our social fabric. My calculation runs as follows: if the opportunities for voluntary organisations to get involved in our public services are to extend far more widely, the definitions of public service and voluntary organisation will themselves become stretched and skewed. So the policy response of government initially becomes more consultative and enabling. Then it becomes to create structures that enable a wider variety of groups, large and small, to deliver services. To open up supply chains and use cloud technology to make tendering processes simpler, standardised and more transparent. To create models that allow more social investment blended with private investment (read: big society bank ). And to platform business models that make the act of commerce consonant with community action. In short, over the course of a generation, to use the tools and technology at our disposal to create the support structures that make us all community custodians, public servants, whatever you want to call it. The vision has been articulated practically through business plans for the cabinet office and other departments. Through commitments to support social entrepreneurs. Through work programmes that seek to enjoin civil society groups. Through plans to extend the number of agencies, groups and people who can commission services from groups across a number of service areas. The business plans are detailed and there is good stuff there, but they are, after all, just words. Generational shifts and master plans are all very well, but we need to know about the here and now. We need to know how this transition period – for all shifts and all cuts require transitions - will be managed and how those who need help will receive it. The £100m transition fund was an obeisance to this. Delivered through the big lottery fund, it felt very un-big society like; very old money. And so we have a huge pot hole in the story. We need, I think, a credible coalition plan to achieve this evolved vision that extends beyond the business plan period and that keeps the ship afloat in the interim. We don't have one. Yet. Perhaps the biggest threat to getting one will be the spectre of political intransigence from the coalition's various bases. I recently wrote an article for Conservative Home on how we might get councils to work better with voluntary organisations. The response was interesting. From many contributors, there appeared to be a certain suspicion of putative structures that enable civic action in our streets. It did not, I think, feel free enough. From councillors, on the other hand, there was acceptance and even excitement. We shall see who is right. What is certainly true is that the coalition will have to do more than offer a few macguffins to make these ideas work. Without a more dispersed model of support, training and activism, and a more organised set of implementation principles, they might find themselves with even greater problems than striking grandmothers. • Asheem Singh is deputy director of ResPublica thinktank and a former senior adviser to minister for civil society Nick Hurd To join the Voluntary Sector Network, click here This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional