The way forward for Communities First
Posted on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 12:34pm
10 responses
I’ve just read Victoria Winckler’s post on the new Bevan Foundation blog, “This is my Truth’ about Communities First. She is writing in reaction to the Wales Audit Office report on Communities First (CF), which highlights many failings in how CF is monitored across the board, how programmes are implemented, and how one of the flagship programmes of the Labour Government at the birth of devolution may not be successful in the future due to lack of ‘programme bending’( this means essentially tailoring local authority run or WAG run programmes to specifically apply to those in Communities First areas)
The One Wales document commits to the ongoing work of Communities First, which has now morphed in to ‘Communities Next’. We took evidence from the Auditor General on this at our last Audit committee meeting of the term, and he stated his concern about why a change in direction of the delivery of the programme has come about, when the Welsh Assembly Government does not appear to have clear evidence as to the success of past schemes and projects to date.
There’s no doubting the fact that Communities First has helped develop communities in many areas of Wales. Nonetheless,its success is very patchy, especially given that the concept conflicts with how Local Authorities seek to deliver services on the basis of treating all areas equally. My concern is that although programmes were set up to build confidence in many of the most deprived areas of Wales- establishing well -being groups, youth groups and so forth, it has failed in one of its core aims of increasing economic activity.
The Auditor General recognised that such goals could not be achieved by Communities First coordinators alone, but if this was the case, then the Welsh Assembly Government should have been honest about this from the outset. It seems to me that the WAG should also have prioritised this agenda across every Government department. This was clearly not the case from 2000 onwards, and reminds me of the way in which the child poverty agenda has suffered due to this lack of cross departmental work.
When will Communities First as a concept end if it cannot address issues such as economic inactivity and social deprivation? Without the financial levers in Wales to vary taxation or to change the benefits system, it is clear that if CF is to be retained, then its goal posts must change to reflect what is actually possible for the Welsh Assembly Government to achieve. Concentrating on setting up social enterprise is one way forward, to be sure.
Another area of note in the Auditor General’s report was how Communities First areas are decided upon. There are many differing definitions across Britain and the EU of ‘deprivation’, and I know from experience that tensions have arisen when one area has been designated a Communities First area, and when an equally deprived village nearby has been left outside the programme. We heard that in Caerphilly, there are local officers in every locality so as not to differentiate between non CF and CF areas, but we need to understand if this is successful in alleviating tensions between communities?
The one controversial thing I would like to say, which members of the Labour party will not appreciate, is that many Communities First programmes are run by Labour party members, and it is very difficult for anyone outside the Labour Party to get involved. This is not the case everywhere in Wales I hasten to add, but I have heard on an anecdotal basis how Plaid members for instance have been blocked from working with teams on numerous occasions, and do not find out about events run by Communities First in their area. Yes, the programme is a Labour baby, born out of devolution, but I genuinely hope that this type of local parochialism is changing. We can’t succeed in rebuilding communities if some people are excluded from trying to make that a reality- whether they represent Labour, Plaid or the Tories.
The Audit Committee has committed to carrying out an inquiry in to Communities First next term. It is questionable why it has taken so long for a committee inquiry to be initiated on this topic, but I have my own views on that.
As a committee we can look at how the programme is being delivered, question whether it is value for money, and so forth. What we can’t say is whether strategically, or in relation to policy, this is the right way forward for Wales. That is for the Welsh Assembly Government to decide….
