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Big Society Agenda

I thank my hon. Friend for those comments. There is absolutely no doubt that we have to see the work of both Government and the voluntary and community sector in a complementary fashion. In my former life, one thing that I, with the officials, tried to do was to ensure that there was partnership working at a local level within and across communities, but also between Government and the community and voluntary sector. I hope that I have made it clear how important Northern Ireland’s well established civil society has been, even in our darkest years, and how important it continues to be. I must admit that I struggle to see what is added to this debate by references to the big society. The message from civil society is clear: do not cut and undermine the public sector and push the burden on to the third sector. Civil society in Northern Ireland faces a threat in the form of cuts to its own organisations. That is compounded by the expectation that it will take up the slack from the cuts to the public sector. I ask the Minister today to take a considered approach to that policy and to take on board the overriding need in Northern Ireland to build a truly shared, reconciled society. I ask that policies—whether from the Northern Ireland Office, or from the Treasury through the disbursement of resources via the block grant and his discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive—ensure that we end up with that truly shared society, right across Government but also in the community and voluntary sector. That will show us that we will have gone a long way towards achieving our final political settlement on the island of Ireland.