CLG Framework: Delivery of Public Services by Faith Based Groups
Posted August 11th, 2008 by Nick
The involvement of the Voluntary and Community Sector in the delivery of public services is a declared government policy, and this includes faith based groups. The Framework acknowledges the potential benefits that faith groups can contribute and some of the issues that might arise (page 33). It proposes working with the faith communities, the Local Government Association and the Charity Commission to produce a standardised version of a charter for excellence in public service delivery by faith communities building on existing models.
What do you think needs to go into such a Charter?
How should it be developed?
In Scotland the voluntary/3rd sector already complies with a significant level of regulation at least the equal of that experienced by the public sector but recieves significantly less funding for the same work and outcomes. There is a position which holds that as a partly charitable enterprise it is expected that you would subsidise local authorities to some extent. However, despite proven value for money and effectiveness we experience a resistance to anything which is not public sector, based on a cultural antipathy to private/voluntary sector which pervades all aspects of local and national government thinking. We can agree charters all we like, and I am certainly not saying we should not strive for common standards, but in reality until we get commissioning which is independant from the public sector provider monopoly, and which genuinely seeks to put the service user before political dogma, we will always be scrapping for the crumbs which are left after the public sector has been fed. In Europe many countries have the faith based agencies integrated into their strategic plans and do not suffer from the sort of overpricing created by professional closed practice and local authority infighting. In Germany for instance a significant part of what we would understand as social care and welfare is undertaken by the Lutheran Church, and similar very successful relationships operate throughout Europe. Can we have a dialogue which not only addresses the supposed concerns the public sector have over the service standards of the 3rd sector, but which acknowledges the real elephant in the room which is that local authorities will always put maintenance or growth of their own expensive service areas before accepting that social care can and should be provided through a genuinely person centred and non partisan partnership across the whole sector.