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M12 6FZ
Tel: 0161 276 9300
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Email: info@vsnw.org.uk

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Cabinet Office actions to build Big Society

1 July 2010

The Cabinet Office Structural Reform Plan provides further detail on how Civil Society will be supported to build the Big Society vision.

Actions to 'Support the building of the Big Society' are part of six overarching departmental priorities which includes:

1. Civil Service Reform
2. Quango Reduction
3. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy
4. Driving efficiency in Government Operations
5. Transparency
6. Support the building of the Big Society

The purpose of the latter priority is to

"encourage more Social Action and strengthen the voluntary sector through a programme to make it easier to run a voluntary sectororganisation, get more resources into the sector and make it easier for the sector to work with the State"

The Actions are outlined on pages 10 and 11: Cabinet Office Structural Reform Plan and include

1. Make it easier to run a charity, social enterprise or voluntary organisation, which will include a consultation (starting July 2010) on the effectiveness of infrastructure to support frontline organisations
2. Get more resources into the sector - social investment, giving and philanthropy, which includes establishing a Big Society Bank
3. Make it easier for sector organisations to work with the State, which includes "Your Freedom"consultation on bureaucracy, measures to level the commissioning playing field, and giving public sector workers the right to form employee owned cooperatives
4. Develop a social norms agenda, which includes public sector volunteering and addressing "barriers to social action and volunteering"
5. Build the Big Society by encouraging volunteering and involvement in social action, which includes launching a national day to celebrate social action and training a new generation of community organisers (possibly based within the public sector ... "policemen, school-teachers and nurses") 
6. Begin development of a National Citizens Service (pilots and roll out)

The plan also includes the following milestones:

September 2010: Announce date for day to celebrate social action
November 2010: Parliament invited to create a Select Committee for Civil Society
December 2010: Fund created to support creation of neighbourhood groups
January 2011: Implementation of changes to commissioning process begins
February 2011: Actions to reduce burden of bureaucracy on the voluntary sector
April 2011: First funds from Big Society Bank available

 

 

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