Chloe Stables's blog

The rather brilliant Charlotte Stuffins in our policy team has pulled together a short overview of the recent Big Society evidence session by the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC).

PASC heard from the following Ministers who all have some responsibility for the Big Society agenda:

The dust has finally settled on the 2011 conference season. It’s been all the things I thought it would be - expensive, hectic and occasionally frustrating. But the bottom line is that it’s been useful – particularly the last days we spent in Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference.

Another week goes by, another party conference, this time to Liverpool for the 2011 Labour Party Conference. This was Ed Miliband’s first real test as leader as he attempted to reassure both his party and the country that he is the man for the job.

Smaller organisations needn't be intimidated by the conferences, says Chloe Stables – just come prepared.

There is usually only one question I get asked this time of year: Are you going? And while party conferences are often expensive, hectic and occasionally frustrating, the answer is invariably yes. The fact remains that the annual gatherings of the UK's main political parties are an unmissable opportunity to engage with the people that matter and to influence the public policy agenda.

The All Parliamentary Group on Civil Society and Volunteering recently met to discuss the issue of giving, particularly topical following the publication of the Government's White Paper a few weeks ago.

Yesterday NCVO hosted a meeting of the Labour Party’s Civil Society Policy Review Group. We were joined from around 20 colleagues from across the sector and discussion ranged from the highfalutin role of the state type stuff down to the nitty gritty (including the perennial question of where will the money come from!).

In a recent article in the Observer, Tory thinker Phillip Blond observed how civil society now occupies the centre ground of British politics.