IAIN DUNCAN SMITH
“ENGAGE WITH THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR”
I want to see a revolution in the way we approach poverty and social deprivation in this country. We do not just live in a welfare state, but in a welfare society in which the vast majority of care is delivered by families, social networks and voluntary associations.
Public sector professionals must be encouraged to support rather than supplant these existing efforts. We need to develop their engagement with the voluntary sector. The best way to encourage innovation in delivery of public services is to expose professionals to the vibrancy, dedication and risk-taking of the volunteers and those working in small- and medium- sized charities.
The Centre for Social Justice, of which I am the chairman, made several concrete recommendations with regard to processes last year. For a start, we must strengthen the ‘Compact’ by giving it legislative force. The Compact is a voluntary agreement between government and third-sector to promote fair-dealing on both sides. It calls on the public sector to create multi-year funding arrangements, and deliver payment promptly with full recovery of costs. It is routinely flouted. If they are serious about encouraging innovation, the professionals must deal fairly with this sector.
Public service professionals have a duty to the taxpayer, and if they are to foster the growth of the voluntary sector they need to be confident that money is being spent effectively.
This makes monitoring of performance a key issue. Unfortunately, our research uncovered a tendency for the public sector to seek to micro-manage those projects it supports. Public sector professionals must develop outcome-based assessment of charities – and charities must become more transparent.
Partnership between government and the voluntary and private sectors is the future of public service in this country. These latter two groups must be at the front-line delivery of most services. We must learn from the (qualified) successes of Academy schools, making it much easier for the voluntary and private sectors to respond to local demand for better schools.
The public sector has strategic expertise and large resources. The voluntary sector is constantly identifying social problems and creating innovative solutions. Both need to learn to complement each other in their joint ideal of effective public service.
Iain Duncan Smith is an MP (Chingford and Woodford Green). He is also founder and Chairman of the Centre for Social Justice
Top three public sector innovations
1 DRUGS ENFORCEMENT POLICY IN SWEDEN Abuse of illegal substances is not tolerated and drug use is regarded as deviant behaviour.
2 US CHARTER SCHOOLS Nonsectarian public schools that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The schools are accountable to their sponsor to produce positive academic results.
3 NURSE FAMILY PARTNERSHIPS IN THE US This scheme provides support to deprived first-time young mothers and their babies. The aim is to prevent future problems linked to social exclusion.
