A press release posted on the Cabinet Office website on 18th May announced "A new era of people power at the centre of the new Government".

It goes on to state:

A cross-government policy programme (entitled the Big Society Programme) will create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a Big Society that would roll back big government, bureaucracy and Whitehall power.

The policies outlined today include:

• - giving communities a greater say over their local planning system and saving local services, such as post offices and pubs
• - creating a new generation of community organisers that will be trained to support the establishment of neighbourhood groups and introducing measures to encourage giving and philanthropy
• - encouraging volunteering and involvement in social action, including launching a national ‘Big Society Day’ and making regular community involvement a key element of key civil service staff appraisals
• - piloting a new National Citizen Service which aims to give 16 year olds the chance to develop the skills needed to be active and responsible citizens, mix with people from different backgrounds, and start getting involved in their communities
• - supporting mutuals, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises and giving them greater involvement in the running of public services. Funds from dormant bank accounts will be used to establish a Big Society Bank, which will provide new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other non-governmental bodies
• - increasing access to government-held data through a ‘new right to data’ for citizens to ensure Government data is published. The Police will be obliged to publish monthly crime statistics
• - extending powers for local government by giving a general power of competence to local councils and conducting a comprehensive review of local government finance in order to help remove restrictions that limit the work of local councils.

the Big Society Programme is outlined in a 3 page document available from http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/407789/building-big-society.pdf

and the full copy of this press release is available from http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/newsroom/news_releases/2010/100518-news-big-society-launch.aspx

A 16 page pdf document entitled Building a Big Society, as published by the Conservative party is available from http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/Building-a-Big-Society.ashx

If this is a topic you have comments on, an interest in or knowledge of, please kick off and engage in a discussion around what this might mean for the community and participatory arts sector by posting a reply on this forum.

Modified 4 times, last modified by EMPAF on Thu 15th July, 2010 @ 11:55am