'We are the Big Society'

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ePolitix.com speaks to Gracia McGrath, chief executive of Chance UK, about attending Conservative Party conference, early intervention and the Big Society

Why are you here at conference?

I thought it was really important to come to conference this year because I think we have a unique opportunity to be listened to. I think that politicians are in a state of flux; the coalition government is new to them, as it is to us. People are willing to listen and hear your ideas; whether they are taking them on board or not, they are willing to listen.

So I felt it was vital to come and talk about the things that are really important to us at Chance UK – namely early intervention.

I am really pleased to hear everybody talking about early intervention, around drug and alcohol issues, around crime and all of those social issues that will end up costing us a hell of a lot of money in the future. People are talking about investing in early intervention and prevention.

One of the other things that I really want to talk to people about at conference is the cost-effective model of going into partnership; voluntary sector organisations both big and small, like Action for Children and Chance UK using their separate expertise to work together – the partnership model that we have had for the best part of the UK, which is about to grow.

So you are an advocate of the Big Society?

We are the Big Society!

It has been a really interesting conversation. People are asking what the Big Society means. I think if the voluntary sector doesn't engage and say 'this is what the Big Society is', then it will just be a meaningless phrase that has been made up by party PR gurus.

The truth is we are here to put the meat on the bones. We are here to say, how could you get any more 'Big Society' than adults who work in a whole range of sectors, who volunteer to work with a child for a year, and see them every week and bring about a change in their life? That is the Big Society.

So I'm an advocate of the Big Society – because we have been doing it for 15 years. The other advantage of being here is that we can say to people, "actually this is what it means".

What are you doing whilst you are here?

A mixture of things. I am an adviser on youth justice for the Centre for Social Justice, so we have had a number of meetings here.

I am going to fringes, asking questions, talking to people, generally networking. I am listening to speeches, and then sitting down and working out what it means for us. I think generally that it is about being better informed, as well as informing other people.

Is it just the Conservative Party conference that you have come to?

It is – this will be the first time I have ever been to a party conference.

We are a very small organisation with very small resources – it is quite expensive to come to conference.

My feeling about Labour Party conference was that it wasn't the time – the focus was going to be, as it needed to be, on who the new leader would be, and then the jockeying for position as to who the new ministers were going to be.

We need to start talking to the Labour Party, once they have decided who the new ministers are going to be. We don't have the funds to actually go out and do a bit of pitch just in case this person happens to be the person who you might need to have a relationship with in the future.

What I have been impressed with, and will probably make me return in the future, is the fact that it is a unique opportunity to bump into people who sometimes don't answer their phone, or have a whole series of private secretaries between you and them.

If you bump into them at conference, they have to be nice to you.

You have to come here and be bold, and you have to come here and know what you want to say. Also you have to be open-minded enough to listen and take on other people's ideas, and use this as a platform for new creative thinking.

Moving on from conference, what is next for Chance UK?

Obviously the comprehensive spending review is very critical for everybody. From 21st October we will know whether we are an organisation on the verge of growth – is there going to be money because of all this talk of early intervention? If that is that case, we are ready for that.

I think that would be a vital chance we would welcome, and we have prepared ourselves for that.

The other aspect is the growth for us in terms of partnerships, looking at our existing partnerships, making deals with new partners, and looking at how we can provide services in the most cost-effective way.

We are in an age of austerity, and being solution-focused about that quite often makes people creative, and people are willing to listen to those creative thoughts. If we can be creative, we can provide specialist services cheaper and more effectively. We will help people do that – and we will help people learn from what we have learnt. They don't need to recreate the wheel; we have some experience of that and we are happy to help others.