19 February 2007

Jim Murphy MP

Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform

Seminar in partnership with Employment Focus – What role for faith groups in today’s welfare state?

City of Manchester Stadium

Monday, 19th February 2007

[Check against delivery]

The involvement of faith groups in welfare and public service provision is nothing new. Most of what we now call public services was once the preserve of charities, many of which were faith based. From Vestry committees providing night-watch services to internationally renowned centres of excellence, such St Thomas’ Hospital, faith based groups have been at heart of delivering services to those in need for centuries.

Today, of course, the State’s responsibility to ensure provision for all is well established and we would never want to go back to the days where there was no right to security for all citizens in the UK. But in making the case for the State to provide that universal right to a basic level of security, Beveridge himself wrote:

“Social security must be achieved by cooperation by the state and the individual…. The state in organising security should not stifle incentive, opportunity, or responsibility; in establishing a national minimum, it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.”

In later years Beveridge regretted the knock on impact on voluntary sector provision. And he was right to do so.

Over the years, the values and unique strengths of voluntary sector provision were under-appreciated by government, and instead, it was replaced by the emergence of a culture of passive welfare dependency. The unique capacity of third sector organisations to innovate – was ignored by monolithic, top-down state control; the potential for local organisations to build social capital and engage local communities - was left untapped, at least by national Government.

More recently, the last decade of welfare reform has sought to change this – with a more active devolved approach to welfare.

The progress so far shows that we have had some real success. Eight hundred thousand children lifted out of relative poverty, record employment rates, and the most significant improvements in employment levels for those most traditionally disadvantaged in the labour market. But the fact that problems remain, also shows that we need more effective ways of reaching those hardest to help groups.

Our success will hinge on our ability to understand the specific barriers these groups face; and our capacity to tailor support to the individual in the community. This is a challenge that I believe Government simply can not hope to meet on its own.

The reasoning behind the Government’s aspirations to eradicate child poverty, to extend the opportunity to work for all, and to end the generational cycle of deprivation is not arbitrary. It is because it is the nature of society which we believe in for the next generation.

Just because it is the Government’s role to ensure there is service provision for all; it does not necessarily follow that it is also Government’s role to deliver that service. Rather it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that the provision that people have is the best service they can get.

Given the collective will within communities themselves to change things, it makes sense to work with communities and through communities, to deliver the services that the people within them need.

That is why, over the last decade, we have started to draw more on the expertise and resources of local organisations embedded at the heart of communities. Funding from State sources is now the single biggest source of third sector income at nearly 40%.

The Cities Strategy is very much part of this agenda – with new flexibilities for local organisations who are best able to understand local barriers – empowering them to develop local solutions.

Let me be clear – I do not wish to devolve all responsibility for welfare provision from the state – far from it. What I am saying, is that if there are organisations out there:

• who want to participate in the provision of welfare services,
• who have the capacity to do this as well, if not better than the state itself,
• and who, above all, share a common goal of wanting to support people in fulfilling their potential and gaining work,

….then we should seek to empower these organisations as much as we can.

That is why I believe faith groups are in a somewhat unique position. The access they have to people, the relationships they can establish, and the trust they inspire, has the potential to go far beyond what the State can do.

Of course, there are many faith groups currently involved in welfare provision – some through the state, some not – who are doing a remarkable job. But should faith groups’ role in the welfare sector be expanded? Do faiths groups themselves want this? What capacity is there for this to happen? And what can government do to unlock the potential?

It is to answer these questions that I we are hosting this event as part of series of seminars I am holding on the future of welfare in Britain over the next decade.

I have seen at first hand what difference faith-based organisations can make. Last month I visited a construction training provider in East London. Working with Employment Focus, the faith based organisation who have supported this event, they have helped 150 people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds find work.

I met with a number of faith-based groups afterwards to listen to what they had to say. The invaluable link into communities that they provide was self-evident. This is a skill which the State can often lack. For those who are initially reluctant or cautious about engaging in welfare provision, groups such as the ones I met, have the potential to offer a more accessible and less daunting route to support than the traditional mechanisms of the State.

One of the key issues raised at the time was that of procurement. That is why Toni Percival from my department is here today – to answer some of your questions on this. I think that many organisations feel that there was a lack of understanding from funding and commissioning bodies about the services provided by faith organisations, and that some felt that there was a ‘nervousness’ from some contractors in funding these groups.

I am pleased to announce today, that I have asked my Department’s Commercial Director to develop a centre of expertise within the procurement team working with the Third Sector, to specifically cover the needs of faith-based groups. From the end of this week, there will be a link on our website, dedicated to this with specific information as well as the contact details of who to speak to. In doing this, I want to make sure that access to contracts for faith groups can be on an even footing with all other private and voluntary sector organisations who wish to compete to deliver our services. And I hope that a commitment from the Government to build up knowledge around the specific needs of faith groups illustrates our desire to achieve this.

There are, of course, some who say that there should be no role for faith groups in our society; who believe there should be no partnership between State and faith; or who blame divisions over faith as the root cause of wider global insecurity.

While understandable, to say this is to ignore the fact that faith still plays an incredibly important role in many people’s lives in Britain today. There are over 40,000 places of worship and almost eight million active adult members of religious groups in the UK. That’s over 15 times the number of people who are members of the major political parties.

Put simply, I believe that there is not an entirely secular solution to achieve social cohesion in our communities. It can not be done without the partnership of all faith-based groups. A partnership based on mutual respect, tolerance and understanding; that draws on the values that unite us all – of whatever creed, colour or race. That looks for the positive influence of faith-based groups as forces for good within the community – helping people to overcome barriers to work and to make their contribution to the wider social good.

Welfare provision is just one such area – and it is why I believe faith groups can play a pivotal role in delivering success in welfare reform over the next decade.