Opinion

Power to the people!

Finance | Ian Allsop | 28 Jun 2009

It was probably too much to expect that civil society would completely escape the flying ordure, says Ian Allsop. 

We’ve had the hat-trick now, own goals all three! First the business sector collapses in a stinking mess of greed and hubris, then the venal money-grabbing of elected politicians is revealed in all its sordid anti-splendour and now a think-tank tells us in the pages of the Financial Times that the governance of Britain’s voluntary sector is ‘not up to scratch’.

It was probably too much to expect that civil society would completely escape the flying ordure as the media fan sprays it to all corners. It is also fair to say that the sheer scale of criticism levelled at government and  the financial services industry massively outweighs that directed at civil society, at least so far.

But this leaves no room for complacency. The Public Accounts Committee will no doubt continue to remind us of this as it trawls through the ‘value for money’ analysis it is currently undertaking regarding government’s sizeable investment in sector infrastructure over the last few years.

This matters more than ever right now, with the political leadership  of the country on the point of collapse, the values of society under intense scrutiny and the opportunity to reinvent a better way of doing things about to present itself.

Now is the time to come out with a powerful message that civil society should be hugely supported to deliver the goods on the ground, to target  the real needs of people in their own localities and to deliver quality support and services where and when it matters, in the very communities in which they live.This means less central control from politicians who appear to have become blinded to the decencies of normal behaviour and more trust in the desire and abilities of ordinary people to care for their own. It means more community and less bureaucracy.  It means power to the people!

Fit for power?

With power and the flow of resources comes an absolute need for accountability and this is where the criticism of the sector’s governance will most hurt. Unless there is confidence in trustees’ knowledge and abilities to properly control and account for  the resources they deploy, unitary authorities and central government will use this as a ready-made excuse  not to part with the resources in  the first place.

Surely now is the time to move forward the agenda that says trustees should have a certain minimum exposure to what it means to be a trustee, the duties and responsibilities the role entails and the minimum standard of attendance and engagement it requires.

Yes, this has been moved forward a lot in recent years and there is a gentle and gradually increasing pressure from the Charity Commission to recognise the importance of trustee induction and training.

But this gentle pressure needs now to become more insistent in order to create an environment where the sector can prove that its trustees know what they are doing and are fully accountable for the increased resources that should be directed  their way.

With finance and power, training and accountability need to be mandatory. That way we may be able to insist  that the people know best and can deliver a better job in their own locality than can their discredited political masters from their Westminster byres.

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Who's Who: Ian Allsop