The ConDem Coalition's "Big Society" And How It Will Affect The Borough
There has been much talk among the chattering classes concerning the Coalition's big idea concerning the "Big Society". But the government hasn't given a detailed programme of what the "Big Society" will mean, but from what we know it seems that it will involve the replacement of collective and state provision of services with greater reliance on voluntary, charitable, and private sector provision in such areas of welfare, social services for the poor and elderly, housing, education, healthcare, and even policing. Some of us who have studied British political history might have the feeling of deja vu all over again, as these ideas, although packaged as new by the Coalition, are as old as the nineteenth century. The debate concerning state versus voluntary and private provision of services was very lively at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly at the time when Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer and was laying the foundations of the welfare state. But how would all this manifest itself on a local scale in the borough? The blog will attempt to provide a preview of how the dismantling of the state's provision of welfare and social services, and many other services provided by the local authority, and their devolution to voluntary and private bodies, will be a recipe for chaos and a postcode lottery for service provision for not just the most vulnerable and poor in our community, but also for all residents who rely on statutory and regulated services from the Town Hall. It will be a charter for busy bodies and for crones and cronies of the Town Hall to establish themselves with quasi authority, and funded by your Council Tax to govern and intrude in all our lives in many areas of service provision currently provided by the Town Hall.
There has been much talk among the chattering classes concerning the Coalition's big idea concerning the "Big Society". But the government hasn't given a detailed programme of what the "Big Society" will mean, but from what we know it seems that it will involve the replacement of collective and state provision of services with greater reliance on voluntary, charitable, and private sector provision in such areas of welfare, social services for the poor and elderly, housing, education, healthcare, and even policing. Some of us who have studied British political history might have the feeling of deja vu all over again, as these ideas, although packaged as new by the Coalition, are as old as the nineteenth century. The debate concerning state versus voluntary and private provision of services was very lively at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly at the time when Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer and was laying the foundations of the welfare state. But how would all this manifest itself on a local scale in the borough? The blog will attempt to provide a preview of how the dismantling of the state's provision of welfare and social services, and many other services provided by the local authority, and their devolution to voluntary and private bodies, will be a recipe for chaos and a postcode lottery for service provision for not just the most vulnerable and poor in our community, but also for all residents who rely on statutory and regulated services from the Town Hall. It will be a charter for busy bodies and for crones and cronies of the Town Hall to establish themselves with quasi authority, and funded by your Council Tax to govern and intrude in all our lives in many areas of service provision currently provided by the Town Hall.
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