Charities and social services

There is a myth put around by the Labour party that the Conservatives are against social services and that we will be cutting social provision.

This is of course complete and utter nonsense. One of the main motivators for my political activities is a desire to improve the lot of the entire population.

Where I take issue with the Socialists is that they believe that only the Government can and should provide.

The problem with this philosophy is that it ignores the message of history which shows very clearly that Government is very bad at providing caring services. You only have to look at the enourmous sums of money spent by the Government on Social services and the number of stories of failure that accompany them. Examples being Victoria Climbie and Baby P.

Social care only really works where there is an extra element, that is where people are motivated by love for their fellow man. Where this is there, you will deal with the real problems and not simply seek to plaster over the symptoms to meet targets.

Take Homelessness. People become homeless for many reasons, but ultimately it happens because the person has no one they can turn to. In other words, where family has broken down, there is a greater risk of homelessness.

There are many agencies and charities dealing with homelessness. In Edinburgh where I live there are various. There is of course the social services department of the council. By and large they do a reasonable job, within the restrictions that they have, ie the target driven culture of the Labour Government.

Compare that however with (for example) Bethany Christian Trust. Established 25 years ago and working mainly in Edinburgh seeking to relieve homelessness. What is startling is that they operate on a shoestring (as do most charities) yet they are able to do their work at a 10th of the cost of social services and their success rate is phenomenal. 75% of all referrals to Bethany move on to permanent accommodation and are still there and in employment two years after leaving Bethany.

A 10:1 success rate simply cannot be ignored. Indeed I've brough this to the attention of the senior members of the party. Recently Francis Maude was in Edinburgh, and we took the opportunity to take him along to meet with Bethany and to see some of their work. It's fair to say that Francis was mightily impressed.

Looking to the future, you have to ask, should government not encourage more work of this nature in preference to the tried, tested and failed government provided social services?

Yes, I believe in social provision, I believe that the poor and underprivileged should be helped, it's just that government has a bad track record, and charities, doing it out of love for their fellow man seem to be much better at it. For the sake of the homeless and the taxpayers, let's encourage the likes of Bethany.