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Communities and neighbourhoods

The power of social enterprise

Date of speech	27 February 2008
Location	BT Convention Centre, Liverpool
Event summary	Voice08 - The UK Conference for Social Enterprise

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Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

It's a pleasure to be here in Liverpool and see a city, once scarred by neglect, rediscovering its historic sense of pride.

The wonderful building we are in today is a symbol of Liverpool's new confidence, and I'd like to add my congratulations for its recent and well-deserved win as UK's best conference venue.

As Claire (Dove, chair of the SEC) rightly says, social enterprises have played a big role in the transformation of recent years.

So it's very appropriate to be here to celebrate the work of the Social Enterprise Coalition, and the many and varied organisations you represent.

I'm sure you know the statistics better than I do, but they bear repeating.

There are 55,000 social enterprises in the UK. 5 per cent of all businesses. A turnover of £27bn - that's bigger than the GDP of Luxembourg.

"There is no more powerful force for change, no surer solution to the challenges all our communities face in a rapidly changing world."

And you have some truly inspiring stories to tell.

In Salford, Ronnie Wilson and his First Step Trust SMART project restore recycle abandoned vehicles, clean up the neighbourhood and provide employment - including for people who've found it tough to get work elsewhere, because they've had problems with mental health, drugs or drink.

I visited last year. What touched me was how people who'd been told they didn't have anything to contribute found that actually there was a lot they could do, and came away with restored self-esteem. 

Or take Bulky Bob's, reusing and recycling fridges, sofas, and wardrobes for Liverpool, Warrington and Oldham councils. Since 2000, 18,000 items of 'pre-loved' furniture and white goods have found new homes with low-income families. 7,500 tonnes have been diverted from landfill. And nine in ten of the people Bob's has taken on for its year-long training programme move into a job afterwards.

That's a huge environmental, social and economic benefit.

Then there's the astonishing range of other things the sector does:

• running leisure centres (like GLL in London)
• helping the elderly get to the shops or the doctor (like Halton Community Transport)
• helping people insulate their home (like the Eaga partnership)
• training kids in deprived areas (like the Innovations Factory in Toxteth)
• keeping the local shop in a rural community alive and kicking (like Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire).

Projects that run the gamut from fixing up streets and buildings, to protecting the environment, to unlocking talent.

So you matter to people. You matter to local communities. And you matter to me.

Not just because so many of your activities - from regeneration, to housing - are what my department does, and we need to work together as partners.

But because you embody my kind of politics.

Not Whitehall trying to guess what people's problems are and giving them a solution.

But local people coming together, finding their own solutions, having a real say over the future of the places where they live.

There is no more powerful force for change, no surer solution to the challenges all our communities face in a rapidly changing world.

The Prime Minister has made clear that it is at the heart of his vision for this country. He has called for:

"a politics that embraces the whole nation, not just a select few… that is built on engaging with people and not excluding them… a politics that draws upon the widest range of talents and expertise, not narrow circles of power."

You are a vital part of making that change happen.

So I want to work with you, to help you prosper, to break down the barriers you face.

"I want to make sure that community enterprise runs right through my Department's DNA."

We published the Government's social enterprise action plan back in 2006 and since then we've seen good progress on many of its recommendations.

• we've got 34 ambassadors - many of whom are here today - speaking up for social enterprise and inspiring others
• we've got social enterprise becoming part of the business studies GCSE in September
• and there's a new focus on making sure the Olympics offers opportunities for social enterprises.

But today I want to highlight three areas where I'm going to be pushing for further real progress in the months to come.

First of all, I want to increase the access to financial support for community enterprises.

We all know that even with the best business plans in the world, most enterprises can't get started without a little seedcorn funding.

In many cases, public investment can be repaid several times over, both in the way projects benefit local people and the neighbourhood, and often in the way it can draw in money from other, private sector sources.

I hope to be able to make an announcement of more support, and where it's going, very soon.

Second, I want to make sure that community enterprise runs right through my Department's DNA.

Not just a few officials responsible for the third sector, but a whole department thinking and questioning whether what we are doing is creating an environment in which you can thrive.

Whether it's regeneration, tackling homelessness, or the £1.5bn Working Neighbourhoods Fund, I want to make sure we're taking into account the contribution you could make.

And of course our responsibility for local government is crucial - encouraging them to work with you not just as potential providers of public services, but also as local employers, market makers and stakeholders in local communities.

That's why we are forming a Social Enterprise Unit, a team dedicated to putting social enterprise first, to showing the vast potential of working in partnership with you. I want the team to be a beacon across Whitehall and to town halls, encouraging everyone to raise their sights.

I'm pleased that in some areas, such as the transfer of assets to community groups, your role is already recognised.

Many councils are recognising that they could hand over buildings ranging from old village halls to courthouses to provide a home for community enterprises, and I very much welcome that.

But many of you know that making a success of asset transfer means much more than just picking up the keys. 

To keep going in the long term community groups need to build strong partnerships and develop their business acumen.

That's why my third promise is that I'm going to keep working with business, encouraging them to develop stronger links with community groups.

I have a meeting on this next month with the CBI and a group of private firms.

I'm pleased to see that in very many places we're pushing on an open door.

For example, the developer John Laing and The Big Life Group are working together on Buildings4Life, which holds out the promise of delivering community-owned public buildings on a scale we haven't seen before.

I want to build on that start. In the future, we could perhaps see a much closer partnership:

More businesses giving free advice to local social enterprises on how they can make a success of their business plan.

Sitting on the board of community groups and guiding them through rough patches.

Even, perhaps, wealthy individuals investing in ground-breaking community share issues to help build community enterprises.

I think this kind of partnership can only be beneficial for communities and that's why I'm going to be trying to strengthen it.

This is my offer to you then - I'm going to keep on banging the drum:

• for better access to funding
• for community enterprise to be in my Department's DNA
• for a better partnership between business and the community sector.

And I'm going to keep on listening to you.

I look forward to hearing about your successes today but tell me about the challenges you face, too.

What one thing could we do differently to make life easier?

If you don't get a chance to tell me today then do it next week, next month, because you'll always be in my thoughts and I'm always ready to go in to bat for you.

Let me finish by saying that I find the work you do absolutely inspirational.

Organisations large and small making a difference to local people.

A sector buoyed up by the good will and hard work of hundreds and thousands of dedicated employees.

And proof - if proof were needed - of what the late John Smith called the "extraordinary potential of ordinary people."

I wish you a very successful conference and look forward to working with you in the months to come.