Hurd at the hustings
What else did they say?
Jenny Willott:
'I have concerns about the Conservatives' plans for the Big Lottery, which include a stricter funding of charities only. For social enterprises most of them do not fall into charity and they will not be able to access this funding.'
Nick Hurd:
'You've got strong cross party political support for this, which is worth something, and an absolutely historic opportunity. Government has to respond in the right way.'
On a question about the Tories stopping individual government investment funds for the sector and putting all their support behind the proposed Social Investment Wholesale Bank:
'We're very excited by the prospect of a Social Investment Wholesale Bank (SIWB), which isn't taking money out of the sector but putting new money in through the dormant bank accounts and we make no apologies for saying the SIWB is very, very important.
'There is a decision on what to do with the asset which is the loan book of Futurebuilders. We have views on this. All I can say at the moment is we intend for it to stay in the sector.'
They are looking at targeted tax incentives for social investment
Angela Smith:
'We will not rob other funds to give to SIWB. I still think there is a need for capacity building - there are social enterprises that are ready to move to scale and many others that aren't.'
'I was concerned at an event recently where changes to public service delivery were seen as just another way of getting money into charities - this really is a different way of doing things.'
'I was also concerned that after hearing Sophi [Tranchell, MD of Divine Chocolate] explain her business model to someone they said, "oh so you're not a social enterprise, you're a business" - the business element is crucial and that's something we have to get across.'
'Let's make it clear what you're about and also what you're not about. I do think now is the time that you're most attractive to the public and investors and we need to capitalise on that and make the most of it.'
An election hustings organised by Social Enterprise London last night saw the clearest signs yet that the Tories may have changed their minds about scrapping the Office of the Third Sector (OTS).
Answering a question from the floor on how the different parties would get the message of social enterprise across government, Tory shadow minister for the third sector Nick Hurd said: 'The truth is it's really hard to join up government. That's why we keep talking about it but I think OTS was an important initiative and a good start.'
Hurd added that it was 'too soon' to know whether OTS had achieved its aims.
The apparent support for the government department contrasts with a Tory announcement made before the financial - and government coffers - crisis which proposed scrapping the OTS and replacing it with an Office of Civil Society. The new 'OCS', according to the Conservatives Green Paper on the voluntary sector published in June 2008, would have 'enhanced powers and responsibilities' including community cohesion, and would be populated initially with staff seconded from other areas of Whitehall.
Liberal Democrat spokesperson Jenny Willott, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, also heaped praise on the OTS.
She said: 'To the credit of the government the OTS does make a difference [on joined up thinking and support for the third sector] because of having that focus right in the heart of government.'
Social Enterprise London CEO Allison Ogden-Newton pounced on the warm words. She said: 'I think we've heard tonight tentative support from all parties to keep our beloved OTS which I'm hugely in support of.'
There was less love in the air when HCT CEO Dai Powell renewed his calls on politicians for an extension of the 'right to request', which allows health professionals the opportunity to set up social enterprises, across all government departments.
Both Willott and Hurd said they were supporters of right to request without making firm commitments on its expansion.
Minister for the third sector Angela Smith criticised the Tory position, warning it smacked of 'doing right to request on the cheap'.
Smith said: 'It's not enough to support it, you have to invest.'
Smith pointed to the £100m Social Enterprise Investment Fund that has accompanied the right to request in the Department of Health.
'If we just open it up to all departments I'm very concerned that the private sector will just move in and we will lose the opportunity for our sector.
'We need to be very careful and we need to take advantage of it for the sector and not do it on the cheap and let the private sector in.'
Smith added: 'Unions think this is a Trojan Horse for the private sector - we need to make better examples of the success stories we have to calm unions.'
For his part Hurd attacked the government's commitment to right to request, citing health secretary Andy Burnham's decision last September to make the NHS the 'preferred provider' of NHS services.
This decision was being investigated by the Co-operation and Competition Panel for NHS-Funded Services but the investigation was suddenly dropped yesterday, much to the consternation of sector leaders who have promised to put in a Freedom of Information request.
Harmony returned to the hustings - albeit accompanied by a show of one-upmanship - when the politicians were asked to support the idea of a social enterprise square mile or hub as part of the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics.
Willott claimed her status as a Cardiff MP as her excuse for ignorance on issues of the Olympic legacy but Hurd, a London MP, said he liked the idea and would be happy to talk to London Mayor Boris Johnson about it. Smith also said she liked the idea and would talk to Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.
...as Susan Boyle might have sung. On SocialEnterpriselive.com this week:
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