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It was a mistake not to appoint a Big Society minister, says Phillip Blond

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 16 Jan 2012

Phillip Blond, director of ResPublica, has said the absence of a Big Society minister has hampered the Big Society agenda, as such a "big idea needs a personality behind it".

Blond, who is a co-architect of the Big Society, made the comments at a parliamentary event hosted by the think tank ResPublica last week.

He said he agreed with the Public Administration Select Committee, who called for a Big Society minister in its report on the Big Society last year.

“I agree it was an error that there was no minister of Big Society,” he said. “A big idea needs a personality to drive it.”

“This has led to the failure of it, meaning different things to different people. Then it’s seen as a contradiction and dismissed.”

Tory peer Nat Wei had been government adviser on the Big Society but he quit the role after less than a year.

Blond also said another failing of the Big Society was its emphasis on volunteering and philanthropy:

“It was a disaster,” he said. "It’s relevant. But such emphasis allowed it to be dismissed and considered a laissez-faire policy.”

Overall, however, he said the Big Society had been a success, noting that it had lots of interest internationally. He added:

“According to trends analysis 70 per cent of the public think that society is broken. The Big Society is a response to this. That’s why there is this excitement.

“It’s offering a conservative political economy for the poor, which we have not seen since Disraeli or in part with Thatcher and council housing.

“We have lost battles,” he said. “But we haven’t lost the war.”

Blond also said he felt the Big Society was attacked so much as it “genuinely shifted the agenda”.

“Those who believe in it need to get political,” he urged.

Big Society ministerial committee not meeting

However, the Big Society has again come up against criticism, with the Financial Times reporting last week that the Big Society ministerial committee has “lapsed into inertia.

The FT reports that the Big Society ministerial committee, which was set up to co-ordinate volunteering ideas across Whitehall, met three times in the first year of the coalition.

However, since March 2011 there has been no meeting despite the committee’s continued existence.

According to the Financial Times, Gareth Thomas, shadow minister for civil society, said he was astonished that the committee had been inactive, saying it suggested the idea was “not being taken seriously” by the government. The newspaper added that Blond has accused the Treasury of preventing it from taking root.

Further, a Cabinet Office official told the Financial Times: “Big Society policy is developed through a number of different channels including frequent ministerial meetings and regular meetings with senior officials across government, whilst formal co-ordination continues through the standard channels of the cabinet committee structure.”

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