After the election, what now for civil society?

What a night. It was strange to be watching the results rolling in, sitting in David Cameron's constituency. Indeed I even saw his car – and the accompanying helicopter – pass as he went from his house up the road to the count in Witney.

To Cameron’s credit, he was the only party leader who spoke about volunteering and the third sector during the campaign. He made a radical proposal on volunteering rights in new legislation, which we strongly supported. His support for charities and social enterprise – and specially his emphasis on volutneering – will have been noted all over the country. I look forward to seeing it take shape in government.

Andrew Marr made a perceptive remark about Labour’s stance on the voluntary and community sector, when he said the party need to fundamentally rethink their approach, to think less of public sector workers and more about the role of charities and the community. I was shocked that Ed Miliband, who was our first third sector minister, made no comment in this election about charities and social enterprise or our role in society. Labour needs a radical rethink of its stance on the third sector. They were silly to ignore civil society and its role in building stronger communities. Let's hope the  Labour leadership contenders will put this right.

So, while these are early days, I am pleased by David Cameron's pledge, made in his speech in Downing Street, to build One Nation. This must not be only about Scottish devolution but also about bridging the gulf between the haves and have-nots, accelerating the public service reform agenda to give the poorest in our society real choice and care and supporting our world-leading third sector. One Nation means working with charities, campaign groups and social enterprises that bring people together, listening to them and supporting their leaders to make change happen. Our voluntary and community organisations must be unmuzzled and unleashed, for the good of our country.

Third Sector Hustings!

We are in a surfeit of party leader speeches and it is still 80 days to go before the election. Will all this debating help or hinder? I was having dinner with Andrew Barnett, the dynamic and charming (no he’s not giving me money!) CEO of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and we were both agreeing it is all a bit tedious. Even though we know it's important. 

I was interested in Ed Miliband's speech yesterday on Labour’s ‘Better Plan for Britain’s Prosperity’. The plan builds on the feedback and ideas that many  in the business community have given Labour and sets out “how the next Labour Government will chart a path to higher productivity in all parts of the economy as the basis of a renewed and inclusive prosperity. Central to Labour’s plan is an understanding that Britain only succeeds when working people succeed.”

And David Cameron spoke recently on the Tory plan for the economy. Clearly both parties are vying for the business vote and both are setting out their alternative visions for the economy. What is striking is how little they both have to say about society and the role of citizens and communities. Although we know Big Society is not a feature of the current 6 Tory themes, last election there was at least a debate on society. At present it’s completely absent. What role social action? What role the third sector in public service reform? What role in building social cohesion through volunteering or promoting giving? 

And yet when you think about it, a prosperous Britain depends on a strong society where there is social cohesion and communities are strengthened through citizens’ social action and volunteering. When society is fragmented there are serious consequences – as we have seen with past riots and social unrest. So business needs to be underpinned by a society that is at ease with itself. The role that our third sector plays in building a strong economy is usually overlooked and yet it is important. 

This is why ACEVO and the Charities Aid Foundation are holding a our 2015 Gathering: The Social Leaders’ Debate. We are challenging the main political parties, as well as those who aim to hold a balance of power, to a hustings to debate their party positions with the third sector. It will be fun. And who knows, it may even be illuminating…

The hustings are at Church House in Westminster, in the evening of Tuesday 24 March. If you fancy coming along, do book your place soon!

Community transport: put the third sector first!

Last week Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Michael Dugher MP, made an important announcement for community transport charities. He said a future Labour government would look to not-for-profit transport operators to help communities that are poorly served by the unregulated bus markets outside London. This is a good sign for the third sector.

Community transport is an important part of the debate on devolution and local authority powers. Why shouldn’t local authorities be able to shape their local bus services in the public interest? I’m pleased to hear a front bench politician addressing this question.

Politicians often say that a broken market can be repaired by diversifying the provision of services. But they don’t so often go on to say that the third sector should be a central provider of public services. This is the key contention in ACEVO's public service reform agenda.

Since bus deregulation in 1986 the majority of bus services outside London have been run by commercial operators. If services aren’t profitable enough, they can withdraw them. Local authorities have few powers to create a better deal for their residents, other than to subsidise routes they deem to be socially necessary. So usually they will pay commercial operators to run services they had previously withdrawn. Often, it’s the most vulnerable and isolated people and communities who suffer the loss of public transport. Their chances of accessing vital public services and employment are severely curtailed.

Who is lined up to respond to this challenge? The community transport sector has always been there, working with local authorities to address gaps in services and helping people who cannot access conventional bus services.

Community transport operators provide a bridge between the transport industry and the charity sector. They have a lot in common with other charities but are often quite distinct from the rest of the transport industry, not least because of the number of women in positions of leadership. Two of these are members of ACEVO. At our annual dinner last year, Jo Beaumont (who leads a social enterprise that works across the North of England and the Midlands) was chosen to be an ACEVO fellow. Anna Whitty is CEO of the ECT Charity and has recently joined ACEVO; Anna was instrumental in leading a partnership providing accessible shuttle services for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which did wonders to raise the profile of the community transport sector.

Bill Freeman, ACEVO member and a regular at our North West CEO’s forum, is in his second year as Chief Executive of the Community Transport Association, the national body which leads and supports community transport across the UK.

Bill has argued since day one that things could be different. He says it makes no sense for policy-makers only to turn to the community transport sector once everyone else has had a go, spent the money and proved they can’t make it work. He argues that the not-for-profit model should be on the table from the start when thinking about how to meet transport needs within our communities. It is a more reliable and resilient way of addressing unmet needs.

So far in this election campaign there’s been too little debate across the board about the third sector. Community transport is a great example of the contribution we can make to public services in future. At ACEVO we’re currently reaching out to bring more Community Transport operators in to our movement, to strengthen our voice for change in the way our public services work. And let’s hope we can keep up the momentum for the third sector to be showcased in other debates in the weeks left before the polls!

Some information about Community Transport in the UK:

What is community transport?

• Community transport is about providing flexible, accessible and responsive solutions to unmet local transport needs, and often represents the only means of transport for certain user groups.
• Using everything from mopeds to minibuses, typical services include voluntary car schemes, community bus services, school transport, hospital transport, dial-a-ride, wheels to work and group hire services.
• Community transport benefits those who are otherwise isolated or excluded, enabling them to live independently, participate in their communities and access education, employment, health and other services.
• Community transport works to a particular set of regulations designed to enable not-for-profit services run for a social purpose to be able to operate within a safe and legal framework.

Regulation of CT services

• Community transport operators are required to comply with both charity law and transport law. Charity law ensures that the organisation’s activities are focused solely on providing public benefit. Within transport law there are special provisions for services that are run on a non-for-profit basis.
• The key legislation is contained within the 1985 Transport Act and its subsequent amendments.  This was the Act which denationalised the bus industry; it recognised that transport provision in some places was unlikely to be commercially viable and so provision was made to make it feasible for community groups to provide transport.
• The regulatory regime strikes a balance between placing sufficient rules on community transport services to ensure that they are safe and legal but not making them so stringent that they deter community organisations and volunteers from getting involved in operating a transport service.  Any organisation which provides transport using a minibus should have a permit, whether or not they charge a fare to their passengers.
• One type of permit (section 19) support services that take people or groups from door to door, as a taxi or coach might. The second type of permit (section 22) enables them to run scheduled services along fixed routes, like conventional bus services but with smaller vehicles.

Ed Miliband talks, Lesley-Anne lectures, Bubb basks.

So just back from the launch of the IPPR Condition of Britain report, at the Rich Mix centre in Bethnal Green. A weighty tome that contains much of interest for the third sector – and for ACEVO and our member charities and social enterprises much involved in pulling together ideas for this report (just as we are pulling together ideas of relevance to the other political parties). It was good to have a wide range of civil society groups represented in the audience – my name was mentioned in a question by a delegate from Unite. The presence of several Labour MPs including Jon Cruddas and Rachel Reeves showed how important IPPR’s work is in Labour’s policy review and plans for government. Ed Miliband gave the keynote introduction. 

I have to admit to being flattered when Ed Miliband, answering the inevitable Bubb question on the need for more devolution of power to charities and social enterprises, described me as “a formidable campaigner on these issues”. He went further to acknowledge that “you and I know that the voluntary sector can make a huge difference when it comes to adding value to public services”. I hope we will see similar sentiments when Labour’s policy review and their manifesto set out their full pitch to our sector! 

And last night I was at Cass Business School for a Lecture by my Chair, the formidable Lesley-Anne Alexander. She spoke eloquently about the work of RNIB and its role leading the UK’s sight loss sector, and also asked whether the UK actually needs 733 blind charities. Lesley-Anne has led 14 mergers and she spoke about the process, the way they preserve brands and how useful that is. Her view, echoing that of Sam Younger is that the UK has to many charities and there should be more barriers to entry. 

And after a heavy weight lecture the Business School laid on a splendid dinner for select guests. It was, as can be imagined, of the standard one would expect from such an institution.

A milestone on the Lobbying Act

My team interrupted my Australian holiday last night to let me know some good news from SW1. At long last the Labour Party have committed to repeal the dreadful Lobbying Act if they win power in 2015. Good on Ed.

We’ve spoken with Angela Eagle’s office a lot recently, and I wrote in February to all three party leaders to urge them to commit their parties to repeal. David Cameron wrote back to promise that the act “will only apply to third-party organisations or charities who spend money to procure the electoral success of a particular political party or candidate”. But he didn’t commit to replacing the Act with a better-drafted law. Now Labour have gone one better.

Labour’s commitment means the other parties must follow suit. It’s in their interests, and in the country’s interest, for all parties to commit to rewriting the bad law the government have produced.

But for now ACEVO’s campaign won’t rest. We’ll keep at the Electoral Commission and all the political parties, to make sure that the Lobbying Act regulation for the 2015 election is proportionate and that there’s good plans in place for a replacement law after 2015. You can now find updates on our fantastic new website too. Just go to http://www.acevo.org.uk/campaigns/speaking-truth-power-lobbying-act.

Furniture Reuse and Tony Benn.

In Nottingham yesterday (Eastwood to be precise; the birthplace of DH Lawrence) for the 25th anniversary conference of the Furniture Reuse Network. A brilliant organisation that takes beds, sofas and various white goods that people are discarding and puts them back into reuse by those unable to afford these things. It’s like the food banks, but instead of supplying things to eat, it supplies the means of cooking it.

My old Brixton friend Matthew Thomson used to be the CEO. Now he runs the great ’Fifteen' social enterprise and restaurant, down in Cornwall. Craig Anderson is the CEO now taking the organisation forward. An active ACEVO member, he argues for professionalism in our approach to fulfilling our mission, and is charting a strong course for the network.

Furniture re-use is big business now; not surprisingly the recession has seen a big rise in demand, making the Network ever more relevant. I'd been asked to give the opening keynote address alongside Eric Pickles MP. Eric was good - I've known him for decades, since his time as Leader of Bradford. I was able to pay tribute to him for pioneering the Localism Act. I chided the sector for not making extensive use of the Rights clauses of the Act: the right to challenge, to acquire assets, etc. And we still have not fully used the Social Value Act to challenge commissioners.

I spoke on the theme of optimism. Though there are many reasons to be depressed, there are also major opportunities for our sector to deliver better services and to use our voice to challenge and advocate for our beneficiaries. I talked of our proud history of "voice and choice". And I'm afraid I had to chide Eric for the Lobbying Act, which has hardly anything to do with lobbying, and a lot to do with gagging campaigning charities. I said although ACEVO and our friends had secured much change - perhaps we got as much as 70% of what we want - a third sector leader should never be satisfied unless they have got 100%.

I talked about sorting commissioning. Council officials and civil servants have not been terribly good at drafting contracts, and the private sector has got away with serious failing. A handful of big firms mop up most of the cash, as I said in my recent letter to the PM.

The Government needs to "get its house in order”, to ensure the contracting-out of public services to private providers is subject to proper scrutiny and provides value for taxpayers, MPs have warned. Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge said recent outsourcing failures involving firms such as G4S and Serco had exposed "serious weaknesses" in the Government's management of private contracts. Her committee recommended extending FoI legislation to cover the contracts.

Of course this would also mean we were covered too. I'm not sure extending the legislation is a good idea. It would be time-consuming and bureaucratic. But we will need to be more open on contract matters I suspect.

Richard Johnson, former MD of Serco and an adviser to ACEVO, told Today: “if your strongest motivation is to secure the cheapest possible price, you are ultimately going to be driven to the largest contractors".

Last but not least, it was very sad to wake to the new of the death of Tony Benn. When I moved to London in 1976 I lived in Notting Hill for a number of years, and got to know the Benns well. Tony's wife Caroline was the Chair of Holland Park Governors, where I was also a governor for a while. So I used to go round to their place; their eldest son Stephen is an exact contemporary of mine. And I kept in touch.

I used to debate with Tony about public service reform, though I’m afraid he had the view that public services were the role of the State and charities were at the margins. I even asked him to debate the issue at one of our ACEVO CEO Summits. He was brilliant and had the audience in the palm of his hand. I've heard him speak on many occasions. It was always a privilege. And his courtesy in debate would always win him admirers. His writing was a joy. He will be missed.