Presentatie van Phillip Blond voor de Burgerschapslezing van De Publieke Zaak.

1. The “Big Society” Phillip Blond Director of ResPublica

3. Association (social)

4. Distribution of power (political)

6. Lack of participation Decrease in civic engagement: In 2009/10, only 34% of people in England engaged in some form of civic participation – in 2001, this figure was 38% Decrease in volunteering: In 2009/10, 25% of people in England volunteered formally at least once a month, compared to 29% in 2005 Source: ONS Citizenship Survey 2009/10

7. Lack of social cohesion Fragmentation of the community: 97% of communities in the UK have become more socially fragmented over the past three decades (based on the number of non-married adults, one-person households and people moving in the last year) Source: Changing UK (Dec 2008), BBC Report Loneliness: The number of lone-person households has risen from 3 million to 6 million over the last 35 years and is expected to rise by another 3 million in the next 15 (by 2021) Source: JRF Report, Social Exclusion (Sept 2006)

8. Mistrust: Only 68% of people trusted their neighbours in 2005 compared to 81% in 2003 Source: You Gov Survey on Public Trust, 2003 & 2005 Our general level of social trust in the UK has almost halved to 30% in 2002/03 from 56% in 1959 and is amongst the lowest in Europe Source: Civic Culture Study 1959; European and World Values Surveys 1990-2002/03

9. Concentration of assets The wealthiest half of households hold 91% of the UK’s total wealth, whilst the other half has the remaining 9% Source: ONS, Wealth in Great Britain – Main Results from the Wealth and Assets Survey 2006/08 (2009) By 2008/09, 13m people were in poverty Of these, 5.8m (44% of the total) were in ‘deep poverty’ (household income at least one third below the poverty line) - the highest proportion on record Source: JRF Report, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2010

10. Amongst other developed countries, the UK has the worst social mobility record The chances of a child enjoying higher earnings and better education than their parents is lower in Britain than any other western countries The strength of link between individual and parental earnings varies across OECD countries Source: OECD, Going for Growth (2010)

11. Concentration of power Low levels of influence: In 2009/10, only 37% of people felt they could influence decisions in their local area – this figure was 44% in 2001 Source: ONS Citizenship Survey 2009/10

12. However, perceptions are shifting... Almost 6 in 10 people express a belief in community as opposed to individualism Source: The Futures Company research 2010 In 2009/10, 85% of people thought that their community was cohesive (agreeing that their local area was a place where people from different background got on well together) – this represents an increase from 2003 and 2005 (both 80%) Source: ONS Citizenship Survey 2009/10

13. How does the Big Society work?

18. allow access to ownership and trade

19. asset-building approach to welfareCommunity right to buy: Requires local authorities to maintain a list of assets of community value in order to give the community time to develop a bid if such assets come up for sale e.g. Port of Dover

20. Community right to build: Gives groups of people the ability to bring forward small developments – the benefits of the developments (e.g. profits made from letting homes) will stay within the community Public service co-operatives: Gives people more involvement and control of the services they use and the places where they live by putting council resources into their hands e.g. Lambeth Council

21. Give more power to communities... Your Square Mile: A central nervous system for civic society that enables the interchange of ideas, advice, support and benefits to citizens throughout the UK - Mutual: owned by members and run for their benefit Neighbourhood planning: Give people more of a say on where houses, shops. Hospitals, etc should be built and what they should look like

23. by allowing community groups, individuals and social enterprises to provide public servicesCommunity right to challenge: Encourages more innovation in public service delivery – voluntary and community groups to be given the right to express an interest in taking over public services e.g. social enterprises and public procurement

24. The Netherlands and the Big Society?

25. The Statistics... The Netherlands seems to trump Britain on most statistics! Child well-being: Amongst all OECD countries, the UK is ranked the lowest with regard to child well-being, whilst the Netherlands is right at the top! Source: UNICEF Report Card based on OECD data (2007)

26. Participation and trust levels have increased over the past decade... Contacts with friends has increased from 77% in 1997 to 80% in 2009 Contacts with neighbours has stabilised at around 66% Trust in other people has increased from 58% in 2002 to 64% in 2008 42% of people in the Netherlands volunteered at least once a year for one or more organisations – and this figure has steadied Source: Hans Schmeets & SaskiteRiele, “A decline in social cohesion in the Netherlands? Participation and trust, 1997-2010” (Jan 2010)

27. Civil society and participatory democracy is to be admired... ‘Opzoomeren’ programme: Challenges residents in the streets of Rotterdam to take responsibility for their own environment Social enterprises: The Netherlands’ engagement in social entrepreneurship as a percentage of all employment is almost twice that of the UK (16.64% and 8.42% respectively) Source: EMES, “Social Enterprise in Western Europe,” Roger Spear Direct democracy: The ‘citizens’ initiative’ – Dutch voters can gather signatories to raise a local concern and propose that the issue is raised and debated in parliament

30. those with neighbours of a different ethnicity have less trust in neighbourhoods and neighboursSource: Bram Lancee & JaapDronkers, “Ethnic diversity in the neighbourhood and social trust of immigrants and natives: a replication of the Putnam (2007) study in a West-European country”

31. Out of the EU countries, the Netherlands ranks second, after France, as the country where the largest group of citizens feels discriminated against (p.45) Source: Statistics Netherlands, Statistical Yearbook 2010, p.45. ‘Minorities’ were reported to be the highest perceived concern by Dutch citizens in 2006 Source: CBS, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (2006)

32. The Future Shape of Society The benefits of association…

35. 2. Encourages a participative democracy “Political activity is embedded in the non-political institutions of civil society… Undertaking activities that themselves have nothing to do with politics – for example, running the PTA fund drive or managing the church soup kitchen – can develop organisational and communications skills that are transferable to politics.” -- Verba, Scholzman & Brady

36. London Citizens: Different faiths, communities and individuals come together to act on a common cause for concern e.g. challenging interest rates (usury)

37. Robert Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy Social capital is a necessary ingredient for government functioning Successful governments were located in areas where there was a high degree of “civic tradition” – north/south divide in Italy

39. Lending and sharing: land share, car share, tool share, couch share