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togetherwecanPeople and government,

working together to make life better

The Government action plan

A government action plan led by the Home Office

Published by the Civil Renewal Unit,Communities Group, Home OfficeCrown copyright 2005

The Civil Renewal Unit is part of the HomeOffice’s Communities Group.

We promote the active involvement of citizens,communities and public bodies in workingtogether to improve people’s quality of life.

The government departments contributing to Together We Can are:• Cabinet Office

• Department for Constitutional Affairs

• Department for Culture, Media and Sport

• Department for Education and Skills

• Department for Environment, Foodand Rural Affairs

• Department of Health

• Department of Trade and Industry

• Department for Transport

• Department for Work and Pensions

• Her Majesty’s Treasury

• The Home Office

• Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

togetherwecan Contents

Our vision 3Rt Hon Charles Clarke, Home Secretary – Rt Hon Hazel Blears, Minister of State

Together We Can improve our quality of life 4

Our strategy 7

Citizens and democracy 10

Regeneration and cohesion 13

Safety and justice 17

Health and sustainability 20

Our partners 24

Learning and research 27

How will we know it’s working? 28

Appendix

Together We Can 29The Government’s action plan to bring people and government closer

Credits 44

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We believe that local people working together with government at everylevel have the imagination, talent and common sense to solve problems.But more than simply fixing what's wrong we believe that local peoplehave the capacity to innovate, improve and enhance local services andfacilities. The best ideas often come from the people at the sharp end.

We want to transform the relationship between citizens and the state, topass more power, control and influence from the centre to local communities.

The Home Office has led the creation of the Together We Can action plan and weare delighted that our colleagues across government - twelve departments in all -are taking part with us.

The Together We Can action plan is an important benchmark in giving people control over their own communities. It demonstrates where significant and ofteninspirational progress has been made. It shows how local people with the propersupport and guidance can transform their own lives.

It's not easy, but it's not impossible either. This document shows us how.

Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP Rt Hon Hazel Blears MPHome Secretary Minister of State

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“There’s a lot right about our society, but there is a

great deal more that can be done to make it better.

”

between government and citizens. But thisproblem can be solved when people worktogether, pool their collective wisdom andresources, and share the public responsibilityfor decisions. The chasm can be bridged.

Just because people feel powerless and don’tget involved, it doesn’t mean that they areapathetic about public problems. In fact mostpeople will say they would like to play a rolein the decisions affecting their communities, ifonly they felt that their views would reallycount. The challenge for us is to tap intopeople’s real desire to make a difference andengage them in a constructive manner inshaping public policies and services.

Then, when they see that their contribution isreally valued by the public bodies concerned,they feel a greater sense of ownership of theresults and they are more willing to make thesolutions stick.

When people feel empowered and becomemore involved, other benefits follow. Peopleliterally feel better. They are healthier, theireducational attainment rises, crime falls and sodoes the fear of crime. People have moreconfidence in the criminal justice system, thereare fewer social tensions and neighbourhoodsthat were once run down, become betterplaces to live – even sought after.

Power to the peopleIn many ways our quality of life is improving allthe time, but for many people, this is hard tobelieve. Many people feel powerless to doanything about the issues that affect their dailylives; issues such as vandalism in their streets,the lack of anywhere safe for children to play, ornot being able to get the health care they need.

Statistics such as crime figures may fall, but ifthe public announcements don’t reflectpeople’s own personal experience, they areunlikely to believe the official record. Makingimprovements to the ‘bigger picture’ is noconsolation to the person who feels unable towalk the streets safely, or feels isolated anddisconnected from their neighbours.

For some, the organisations which take thedecisions seem beyond their influence, sopeople are left with a diminishing sense ofconfidence and responsibility. Increasingly,they believe that public authorities – such ascouncils, police, the Government – are notinterested in their concerns, let alone theiropinions. They feel that nothing they can dowill make a difference, so they stop trying andso, often, does the public body responsiblefor providing services.

How did we get here? Part of the reason isincreasing mobility within society. We movearound a lot more than our parents andgrandparents did. We move to new jobs,leaving our extended families and social tiesbehind us. Our sense of belonging to a singlecommunity has changed.

Another factor is the way public services nowoperate. The power which used to reside instable communities able to deal with a widerange of local concerns is now spread acrossa diverse range of complex public agenciesand organisations. It’s hard to find the way in,even if you know which door to knock on.

Between 2001 and 2003, the Home Office’sCitizenship Survey found that fewer peoplethought they had any influence over thedecisions affecting their local areas: a fall from43 to 38 per cent. And in the 2005 GeneralElection, although more people turned out tovote than in 2001, the trend is stilldownward, especially among young voters.

It all points towards a spiral of declining trustand engagement in finding public solutions topublic problems, and a chasm opening

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together we can improveour quality of life

Together We Can sets out the Government’scommitment to empower citizens to workwith public bodies to set and achievecommon goals. By having this shared plan ofaction, we can ensure the key initiatives fromall relevant Government departments arecarried out so they make a real difference to

people’s lives. The plan helps us join up ourinitiatives across government. It enables us toshare and review what we learn as the planprogresses, and it provides a basis on whichwe can build partnerships outsidegovernment to take our policies forward.

Throughout the country there are shiningexamples of how communities have beenturned around through empowerment andco-operation. In this introduction to TogetherWe Can we’ve highlighted some of theexamples where a real difference can beseen. We want to learn from what has beendone and share the best ideas so that morecommunities can benefit.

Many of the examples we use here are takenfrom the experiences of statutory andcommunity organisations in local authorityareas called Civic Pioneers. These localauthorities have been working with the HomeOffice since 2004, having signed up to worktogether in a network to share their practicalexperience of what works in engaging localcommunities more closely and effectively indesigning and providing local services.

Other examples have been provided by othergovernment departments involved inTogether We Can. They also cover a range ofexperience drawn from different types ofcommunity. Each has its story to tell, but theyhave in common the guiding principle behindTogether We Can – the essential involvementof local people in shaping the public policiesand services that affect their communities.

Empowerment does work

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Our strategy

1. Active citizens: people with themotivation, skills and confidence to speak up for their communitiesand say what improvements are needed

2. Strengthened communities:community groups with the capabilityand resources to bring peopletogether to work out shared solutions

3. Partnership with public bodies: publicbodies willing and able to work aspartners with local people

In every example and in each action pointin the Together We Can plan, these threeingredients work together. It’s more thanindividual citizens getting together to dogood things in their communities; it’s morethan a public body trying to tackle aproblem on its own; and it’s more than acommunity organisation campaigning on alocal issue.

Together We Can brings the three together.Together they can go further, use theirresources more effectively and findsolutions that last.

The three essential ingredients of the Together We Can way of working

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togetherwecan PromoteTogether We Can

as the way for citizensand public bodies to

solve problemstogether

Develop and implement

the government’saction plan Collaborate

with partners outside central government• Local Government

• Business sector• VCS

Learn and apply

the lessons from research and case studies

This diagram shows how it all fitstogether: the action plan, our workwith partners and how we can apply the lessons we learn from research and case studies as the plan is implemented.

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Toge

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Regeneration and Cohesion

community cohesion and

race equality

Together We Can increase

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Together We Can revitalise neighbourhoods

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safer com

munities

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Together We Can reduce re-offending and

increase confidence in the criminal justice system

Citiz

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Safety and Justice

Together W

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Together W

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Together We Can

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Health an

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The full plan is on page 29.

We have summarisedTogether We Can here,to provide a flavour of

its ambition and scope.

How the Action Plan is structured

We want people of all ages and backgroundsto feel confident and motivated enough to beactive in society and to have a betterunderstanding of how public policy and thegovernance of public institutions and services,works: services such as schools, healthauthorities, the police and the courts.

How?

Part of the answer lies in giving more people,whether at school or as adults, the chance tolearn citizenship skills and discover how totake part in making the decisions that affecttheir lives. Alongside that we’ll work toimprove people’s understanding of politicalprocesses and encourage them to register asvoters. We’re looking at ways to improve therecruitment of school governors, patientsforum members, magistrates and probationboards, and how to encourage people to stayin those roles. We will work with localgovernment to develop the relationshipbetween councillors and people in theirwards, and we are learning from localauthorities, such as those in our CivicPioneers network, to build on their success inworking with communities.

Just as with children and young people, wewill do more to enable older people to beactively involved in designing services and in

Together we can strengthen our democracy

It’s important for power and responsibility to beshared fairly in our society. Each new generationshould want to have its say and should be ableto, in order for our democracy to flourish. Wewant to make sure children and young peoplehave their say and that they grow up tobecome confident and responsible citizens.

How?

We’re doing this by involving them more indesigning the services they use; whether publicservices in general or services specifically forthem, through proposals in the Youth GreenPaper and the work of Children’s Trusts andConnexions, for example. Social inclusionprogrammes such as Positive Futures, whichuses sport to help young people learn skillsand get involved in their community, will helpsome of the most marginalised among themtake better control of their lives – and throughthe recommendations of the RussellCommission, we can help more of themdesign the kind of volunteering activities theywould like to take part in.

Southey and Owlerton Area Regeneration

Young people in Sheffield have been at theheart of Southey and Owlerton’sregeneration strategy. The regenerationboard asked them about their priorities,ring-fenced funding and involved them inthe decisions. They’ve set up the NorthSheffield Youth Forum and young peoplealso take part in city-wide decisions throughthe Children and Young People’s AreaParliament. They’ve run participation trainingfor Sheffield Futures, Connexions, PCTs andhospital staff – and many serviceorganisations now have action plans toenable more young people to have their say.

Through their active involvement, youngpeople have gone from being perceived aspart of the problem to being among thosewho are making the solutions. The residentsof Southey and Owlerton have seen crimecome down and house prices go up –making it a better place to live for everyone.

Together we can ensure children andyoung people have their say

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Citizens and democracy

“It’s made me feel like I

could stand up in front of

anyone. I’ve got loads of

knowledge out of it”

Callum McKayleMember of UK Youth Parliament

and director of Connexions South Yorkshire

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Different communities can find they havemore in common than they realised whenthey tackle a problem together. By comingtogether to talk about it and decide the wayforward, they get a sense of collectivestrength and solidarity which they didn’t havebefore.

Whether they live in cities, towns or thecountryside, local people have a vital role toplay in decisions about their communitiesand the resources they need – and anequally important role in actually carrying outsome of those services and supporting them.

How?

There are many ways in which people canbecome more engaged in the decisionsabout the quality of life in theirneighbourhoods. We are learning from theNeighbourhood Renewal Unit’s experience ofcommunity empowerment to help moreneighbourhoods tackle deprivation. In ruralareas where affordable housing is an issue,

we will encourage parish planning andenable people to work with housingassociations and local authorities to buildaffordable housing.

We will build on the success of the HomeZone Pilot and Challenge programmes whichhave involved people in makingimprovements in their own streets, and wewill increase people’s involvement in thecultural elements of local regenerationstrategies. Any community needs its ownvoice and community radio stations will bepromoted as a good way to create directlinks with local listeners, in some cases evengetting them involved in running the station.

Schools sit at the heart of manycommunities. We are encouraging people toget involved in extended schools, where theirfacilities are made much more accessible toeveryone in the area. We will make it easierfor parents to have a say in where newschools are placed, and we are doing moreto help people in disadvantagedcommunities decide what they need interms of education and learningopportunities in their local areas. Followingthe success of Sure Start we will devise a

Together we can revitaliseneighbourhoods

telling us what works best for them. We willcreate new ways for people to debate andinform important developments in areas suchas science and technology: issues aboutwhich many people care passionately andwhich have a real impact on their daily lives.

CamdenTalks

The London Borough of Camden hascome up with a novel way to find outwhat local people think about life in theborough and about local public services –the CamdenTalks Panel which enables arepresentative group of residents tocontribute their views. Members don’thave to take part in every debate, but theycan get involved through questionnaires,telephone or internet surveys, in-depthworkshops, focus groups and onlinediscussions. With such a choice it’s hardnot to get involved.

And when CamdenTalks, the council listens.‘Mystery shopping’ by panel members withdisabilities has led to practical changes andimprovements to many of the council’s

public buildings. The SaferCamden Strategy has pickedup on the panel’s suggestions,and local people’s ideas forthe regeneration of the King’s Cross area are beingtested out.

regeneration and cohesion

“CamdenTalks makes a realcontribution to decision

making in Camden. It helps usunderstand what residents want

and make sure our decisionsdeliver what they need”

Dame Cllr Jane RobertsLeader of Camden Council

Togetherwe can increasecommunit

How?

In today’s world, we live in more than onecommunity simultaneously: the place where welive, our network of family and friends, thecommunity we share with people of the samefaith or cultural background, for example. Thechallenge is to ensure that communities have ashared sense of belonging and mutual respectfor each other’s diversity.

Some of the tensions between communitiesarise because of misinformation and fear of theunknown. To help counter this, we areencouraging local authorities to work with localpeople to expose myths, confront racism andinvolve residents in preparing for new arrivals andhelping them settle into their new community.

Cultural activities are being promoted to bringpeople together to develop a new sharedsense of community, for example, by sharingstories about the history of a place orcommunity and deciding what to display inthe local museum. And on an individual level,volunteer mentors from the community canhelp refugees settle into their new home area.

Safer Areas for Everyone - SAFE

SAFE was set up after the Bradford riots in2001 with a grant from the

Together we can increase communitycohesion and race equality

template for children’s centres so thatparents can be involved in the design andprovision of services for families.

Communities need the right skills to enablethem to help themselves: our GuideNeighbourhoods programme is alreadyhelping successful residents organisations passon their expertise to others, and the FirmFoundations report’s recommendations on howto build the capability of communities are beingapplied to the development of new policies.

The Government wants people to have theopportunity to act in their neighbourhood, butwithout imposing a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model.Therefore we are developing aneighbourhoods framework, building onexisting good practice and working throughcouncils, not around them, to offer moreopportunities and powers for people to getinvolved in their neighbourhoods.

North Benwell NeighbourhoodManagement

North Benwell, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne,was high on the national index ofdeprivation, so there was much to bedone. The people who lived there knewwhat they wanted. They knew, forexample, that they didn’t want their

houses demolished and they had clearideas about how to regenerate theirstreets. The Council and residents meetregularly now and they have created asystem of evaluation so the communitycan say what they think about the way thearea is developing. Then, they go furtherand involve local people in deciding howlocal services are going to be managed.

Everyone can see the difference. Crime fellby 30 per cent between December 2003and December 2004. Plans to demolishhouses were torn up and residents helpedremove 10.5 tonnes of rubbish in a singleclear-up week, and then helped re-plantand landscape the tidied-up area. Theyknow they got it right - new residents aremoving into the area and half the homesthat stood empty and neglected are nowlived in again.

"Our emphasis has been to

build positive relationships

with the community - all

while having fun and increasing

their self-satisfaction from

our joint successes"

Christina Gates Neighbourhood Manager

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For some people, crime and disorder areamong the biggest concerns in theireveryday life. When people feel unsafe intheir own area, their trust in the ability of thepolice and the criminal justice system totackle the problem can be seriously affected:even if crime figures are going down, peoplestill lack confidence that anything is beingdone about the problems they experience on their own doorstep. It’s vital for publicagencies to work closely with thecommunities affected by criminal and anti-social behaviour. The public should beable to feel confident in the criminal justicesystem, have a better understanding of it, and co-operate with it as trusted partners.

How?

The key to success is building a relationship ofmutual trust and respect between people,their communities, the police and the otherpublic bodies involved in making ourcommunities safer places to live and work.This means a police service which works with

communities and individuals to identify theirneeds; public agencies that listen and respondto what communities, families, victims andyoung people tell them about anti-socialbehaviour; and willingness from all to shareresponsibility for tackling the problem.

We are supporting the development ofNeighbourhood Watch to more parts of thecountry; we will make sure the involvement ofcommunities is part of the steps we take totackle gun and Class A drug-related crime; andwe will involve the voluntary and communitysector’s expertise and networks more as partof our strategy to tackle drug use.

Safer Neighbourhoods in Birmingham

Crime Concern took five neighbourhoodsin Birmingham and asked local peoplewhat should be done to prevent crime intheir areas. Then they drew up short,medium and long term action plans andinvolved residents in the decisions thatwere taken following their suggestions.

It worked because Crime Concern wascreative in the ways it reached out to

Together we can build safer communities

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. Whatstarted as a local initiative to train womenin personal safety has grown to becomeBradford-wide. Nearly 1,000 people havereceived training in Community, PersonalSafety and Empowerment Skills: people ofall ages, genders and ethnic groups.

In its early days, SAFE helped local womenbecome more empowered and assertivein challenging crime on their streets. Itworked because the women involvedwere less confrontational than men mightbe in similar situations.

Four years later, courses are run for alltypes of people, with a focus on reducingthe fear of crime and building people'sconfidence as individuals and as membersof their community. People who take partin SAFE have no more powers than anyother citizen, but because of their trainingthey know what to look out for, who tocall on and how to take action.

SAFE has certainly helpedlocal women and otherpeople overcome their fear of crime - but there isanother positive result:people from differentcommunities have beenbrought together and there isnow a better understandingbetween them. 17

Safety and justice

"The people taking part in

SAFE are doing it because they

want to. It's empowered

people and made them more

aware of what they can do for

their community."

Elizabeth Hellmich SAFE Founder/Manager

The restoration of Courage Park

The public park at Edenham Crescent inReading had become a sad sight –vandalised, uncared for and unsafe. ThamesValley Partnership’s Creating Confidence inJustice project brought together theborough council, the prison service, thenational probation service and the InsideOut Trust which works with offenders in the community: all partners with an interestin bringing the park back to life.

Their idea was to use the restoration ofthe park as an exercise in ‘restorativejustice’ – giving offenders the opportunityto make reparation to the community byputting something back; in this case,creating a safe, pleasant park for thecommunity to enjoy again.

The results went even furtherthan the partners had hoped.The offenders involved in doingthe hard work wererehabilitated. Anti-socialbehaviour fell and the park wasno longer inhabited by peopleabusing solvents and drugs.Residents who were involved indeciding how to improve the park havecontinued to take part in regularcommunity steering group meetings to putforward further ideas for the area.

members of the community. Instead ofjust talking to established resident andtenant groups, they knocked on doors,used surveys, brought focus groupstogether and held workshops. So therewere many ways people could take partand have a say, including people who hadnever taken part before.

Some of the residents became membersof the project steering group and for thefirst time they had meetings with policeand council workers at which they weretreated as equal partners.

The project was set up in 2002 andthey’ve achieved a lot in a short time. Inthe first 18 months, crime in the five areasfell by an average of 14 per cent –compared with only 7 per cent in othercomparative parts of the city. Burglary inpeople’s homes fell by 41 per cent,compared to 13 per cent across the city,and crime by young people fell by 29 percent, compared with 12 per centelsewhere in Birmingham.

It was good value too. The city invested£600,000 in the Safer Neighbourhoodsprogramme and by the end of its first year ithad saved £6,406,840 on the cost of crime.

How?

People start to feel more confident in thesteps being taken to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour when they get involvedthemselves in the decisions about them. The same is true for measures to reduce re-offending and bring offenders to justice.Local Criminal Justice Boards are committedto involving local people, especially peoplefrom black and minority ethnic communities,and will continue to build on existingnetworks such as the community safetypartnerships. The Community Justice Centrepilot in Liverpool and the Salford CommunityJustice initiative will help us learn how tomake the criminal justice system moreresponsive to local needs and apply theselessons to other areas of the country.

Victims of crime will be reassured that justice has been done, when they have theopportunity to see how offenders areprepared to atone for their crime. And whenoffenders work, under supervision, on localclean-up campaigns and other improvementsto a local area, residents will have a say in thetype of work they carry out.

Together we can reduce re-offending and increase confidence in the

criminal justice system

1918

‘We have made incredibly good

contact with the local

community. The project has

repaired the relationship between

the council and community.’

Adrian LawsonReading Borough Council Parks and Open Spaces

Development Officer

"We sat down and talked to

police and housing and they

talked back to us. We were

part of the set-up."

John Clarke local resident

depression and by the mid-1990s thewaiting list to move out was so long thatmany lost hope of ever being able toleave. But today the waiting list is forpeople wanting to move in. St Matthew’shad turned itself around.

How did they do it? In the early 1990s, anassessment of local people’s health needsrevealed a severe mismatch between whatresidents wanted and the services on offer.The Tenants' Association worked alongsidethe St Matthew's Area Forum, chaired by aWard Councillor and with representativesof local front-line services. With their help,the Area Forum set up four groupsinvolving residents, so they had a directsay in what was decided.

In 1996, the St Matthews’ Project got a newhome, the £1.7million Prince Philip House.This is a multi-agency health and communitycentre built and designed by 100 localpeople. It houses a police office, a drug andalcohol service, health facilities, a children'splay area and the education centre – all the things residents said they wanted.

Leicestershire and Rutland Healthcare NHSTrust has moved its headquarters, itsSpeech and Language Therapy Services, itsCommunity Dental Services and Chiropody

Science and technology bring constantinnovations which can improve our lives –but the benefits should be available to all andthey shouldn’t create problems for futuregenerations, whether in health orenvironmental terms. The pace of change israpid and the expertise it involves is highlyspecialised. This makes it all the moreimportant for us to ensure that the people onthe receiving end of policies and services thataffect their well-being are listened to by theprofessionals and have opportunities toshape their decisions – for the benefit of usall now and in the future.

How?

People with health problems, whether physicalor mental and from all types of community,are especially vulnerable, but their recoverycan be helped by a sense of empowerment –the sense that they are able to take control oftheir own lives. For the public bodiesresponsible for health care the challenge is toempower local communities, as well as

individuals, to deliver change for themselves.The Choosing Health White Paper shows thatthis can happen, with examples like the pilotCommunities for Health and the ‘healthycommunities collaborative’ technique whichenable local people to identify theircommunity’s needs and then actually help tocarry out the improvements.

NHS Foundation Trusts are devolving morepower and responsibility for delivering NHSservices to local people, and with that goesgreater accountability to local stakeholdersincluding NHS patients. There is more thatcan be done, for example through Patient andPublic Involvement Forums which caninfluence local health priorities, and doingmore to involve people in deciding where tosite new NHS buildings – decisions that canmake a crucial difference to their ability to usethe health services they need.

St Matthew’s Estate

St Matthew’s Estate in Leicester hadbecome a ‘no go’ area, plagued by highunemployment, violence and poverty.Many of its 4,500 residents suffered from

Together We Can improve our health and well-being

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health and sustainability

How?

People care deeply about the future of ourenvironment, locally, nationally and globally.Through its Sustainable Development Strategy,the Government is committed to do more toenable local people and community groups totake part in decisions to do with local planningand services and ensure the decisions reachedare going to be of lasting benefit. The publicbodies involved will benefit from training,information and best practice advice to helpthem work with the communities concerned –the role of local people in helping to shape amore sustainable future for their area throughlocal Sustainable Community Strategies, parishplans, neighbourhood engagementopportunities and Local DevelopmentDocuments, will be strengthened.

The Community Action 2020 programme willencourage communities to save energy,recycle, play their part in tackling climatechange, improve local neighbourhoods,support healthy eating and exercise and arange of other sustainable development issues.

Investment is vital too – we must ensurethere are appropriate resources to enablecommunities to be involved in economic andregeneration projects, locally and regionally.

Martock’s Parish Plan

Nearly 3,000 rural parishes have producedtheir own Parish Plans in the past fouryears – plans that provide the decisionmakers with a clear picture of what localpeople want.

The village ofMartock is justone parish thathas involved itscommunity increating its planand the districtcouncil, SouthSomerset, hashelped it byproviding extra resources through ‘Moving Parish ProjectsForward’. As a result of their involvement,local people have acquired useful newskills and are now able to handlesubstantial project funds to bring theirplan to life.

The village has seen the benefits – it has anew reception area with a skate park; theMartock Business Association was set upand hosts a business fair in the village;plans are afoot for a new communitycentre due to be completed by 2008, and£167,000 of funds has been drawn intothe village.

Together we can secure our futureServices into Prince Philip House: a suresign that it is here to stay. Medical andsocial work students at the centre aretrained to work with residents to assesstheir needs, putting the patient at theheart of the service.

Everyone’s felt the benefits. In the past fiveyears, the neighbourhood regenerationprogramme has helped find work for morethan 40 local people and provided otherswith computer training. It runs Sure Start,Neighbourhood Watch and a youththeatre. Domestic burglary on the estatehas dropped by 37 per cent. GPs talks of atangible improvement in people’s health –and as well as feeling better, people feelconfident and empowered. Patients haveeven gone on to study for degrees andbecome social workers.

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“Creating a plan is one

thing but making it happen

is quite another. We have a

strong team and over 100

local volunteers to help

– great local involvement”

John MarshallChair of m3 group (Making the Most of Martock)

"Engaging the community

and letting them decide

makes our life as GPs much

easier in the long run

- and what it does for the

community is fantastic."

Dr Angela Lennox

people the confidence, capacity andopportunities to exercise their power andresponsibility as citizens. The Civic Pioneerswill work with the LGA and the Governmentto help inform future policy.

The Government Offices for the English Regionsdeliver much of the action plan in the regions. In particular, they negotiate Local AreaAgreements, manage Neighbourhood RenewalProgrammes which include support forCommunity Empowerment Networks, and theyhelp support effective community engagementby regional and local partnerships such as Crimeand Disorder Reduction Partnerships and LocalStrategic Partnerships. Regional DevelopmentAgencies and other statutory bodies also play animportant part.

For many people, the route to having a voicein the decisions that affect the community isthrough getting involved in a communitygroup. Many community groups andorganisations exist to tackle local concernsand some are directly involved in providingservices that respond to those concerns –such as the management of green spaces orproviding street wardens who contribute tocommunity safety.

The Community Sector Coalition, which bringstogether many of the national networks and

The voluntary and community sector

As well as working together acrossgovernment departments, we mustcollaborate with partners outside Governmentto make Together We Can a reality. Ourpartners share our desire to empower peopleto shape public policies and services, toprovide the learning and skills to help them dothat, and to share good practice so that morepeople benefit from techniques that work.

Local authorities have a democratic mandateto meet the needs of their local constituents,and they draw together statutory agenciesand other local partners through LocalStrategic Partnerships. So they are in a uniqueposition to enable communities to work witheach other and with local agencies to tacklesocial problems.

Since 2004, the Home Office has beenworking with a growing network of ‘CivicPioneer’ local authorities to capture theirexperience. They are showing us how aconsistent approach to working alongside localpeople can inspire them to take part in

local governance and help transform thequality of life in their communities.

The Local Government Association’spublication Towards Self-governingCommunities: The Role of Local Governmentin Civil Renewal (LGA, 2004), sets out howlocal authorities can do more to give local

Local government and other statutory agencies

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Our partners

Civic PioneersNewcastle

LeedsBradford

LiverpoolManchester

Sheffield

High Peak andDerbyshire Dales

Rochdale

Birmingham

Ipswich

Harlow

SloughCamden

Newham

SouthwarkHammersmith& Fulham Croydon

PortsmouthSouth Somerset

Plymouth

The Active Citizenship Centre was establishedby the Home Office in 2003 to draw togetherresearch findings and case studies to informpolicy and good practice. Through its website,www.active-citizen.org.uk, it provides ameeting place and a resource for policy leads,practitioners, academics and think-tanks toshare lessons and carry out research.

Its research programme is managed by theUniversity of Manchester and findings will bepublished at the end of 2005. It is tracking

the progress of initiatives led by the HomeOffice’s Civil Renewal Unit including CivicPioneers, Active Learning for ActiveCitizenship pilots in seven parts of the countryand Guide Neighbourhoods: residentsorganisations who have successfullyimproved their areas and are now sharingtheir experience with others who want totackle similar problems; and the CitizenGovernance Initiative: a study on how toencourage more people to take part in public governance.

associations of community organisations, isworking with us and other stakeholders to helpcreate a national forum. This will give a diverserange of community-based organisations astrong collective voice and an opportunity toinform the future development of the TogetherWe Can action plan: a contribution which willbe vital to its effectiveness.

People who run local businesses often feelthey have little influence over decisions andactivities that affect them. National and globalbusiness institutions, on the other hand, haveconsiderable power themselves and can playa major role in helping individuals and smallbusinesses have a say in the decisions thatare made around them.

Business in the Community has over 750member companies, including 72 of the FTSE100, and operates through a network of morethan 100 local business-led partnerships. Itsinsight into the relationship betweenbusinesses and the communities they servemeans it is well placed to involve businessesin Together We Can. BITC’s programmeSeeing is Believing, which enables businessleaders to see for themselves how businesscan play a role in tackling Britain’s mostpressing social issues, is just one example ofhow we can work together.

Businesses

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Learning and research

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The Together We Can action plan givesmeasures for each policy strand. Progress will be celebrated three times a year at aTogether We Can conference.

The Civil Renewal Unit will also assess progresswith the help of specific tracking studies andthe Home Office Citizenship Survey.

For example, we will assess the impact of theActive Learning for Active Citizenship pilotprogramme on participants’ ability to influencedecisions by public bodies. We will evaluatethe Guide Neighbourhoods programme toassess how it helps communities to becomestronger and more able to contribute to theregeneration of their neighbourhoods; and wewill be working with our Civic Pioneer localauthorities to measure the impact of citizenengagement in their areas.

Every two years, through the Home OfficeCitizenship Survey, we will also be measuring:

• People’s perception of theirneighbourhoods’ readiness to act for thecommon good

• People’s sense of safety and trust in theirneighbourhood

• The level of satisfaction with local services

• The level of engagement with publicorganisations and local affairs

• People’s belief in their ability to influencedecisions

• People’s trust of local public institutions

• The level of participation on public bodiesas lay members.

We are all responsible for the success ofTogether We Can. We can all, through ourown policies and actions, enable citizens towork with each other and with public bodies,in a spirit of mutual respect and co-operation.

Together we can achieve the improvementswe all want for our society, now and for futuregenerations.

If you would like to know more aboutTogether We Can, contact

Dr. Henry TamHead, Civil Renewal UnitCommunities Group Home Office2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF

henry.tam@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk28

how will we knowit’s working?