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CSAN Parliamentary Reception is a huge success

Posted on December 4 2012 by RebeccaHedges, Leave a comment

The CSAN Parliamentary reception held on 28 November in the House of Commons was a huge success, with 120 attendees including over 30 parliamentarians. Addresses were made by the host, Sarah Teather MP; Helen O’Brien, CEO of CSAN; and The Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.

In the Archbishop’s address he highlighted the plight of older and disabled people, calling it a ‘fundamental test for civilised society’.

Archbishop Nichols also stressed the significant challenges of how to tackle unemployment and in-work poverty in the current period of economic hardship. He applauded the tremendous work of CSAN’s member charities and their ability to rise to the challenge of the current circumstances in working to do more, with less.

The reception was attended by Mark Hoban MP, Minister of State for Employment, and Damian Green MP, Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice. The event gave our members an excellent opportunity to discuss important issues with parliamentarians working in their field, and with the MPs in their constituency.

For access to all the photos from the reception follow this link.

Fr. Jamison’s Sermon at Conservative Conference

Posted on October 17 2012 by ChrisDriscoll, Leave a comment

Those who say religion and politics shouldn’t mix know little about politics and even less about religion. True that bad politics shouldn’t mix with bad religion; that leads to evil. But good politics and good religion share a common concern: that the good life is enabled and that evil is disabled.

The description of the good life that predates the Church and modern politics is that of Socrates and the philosophers. The good life is the life of virtue as defined by the four cardinal virtues; prudence and temperance, justice and courage.

We can see that the origin of our current economic crisis was a lack of prudence and temperance, combined with a lack of courage to challenge that intemperance. The paradox is that it’s tempting to think the way out of it is by neglecting the fourth virtue, justice. But the good life always includes all four Cardinal virtues and the absence of any one weakens the other three.

The Gospel of the Rich Man and Lazarus shows this. Dives was unmoved by Lazarus’ plight and lacked any sense of justice, that might motivate him to do something. This lack of just action turned out ultimately to be very imprudent; looking back, he could see that he lacked the courage to temper his selfishness and at least do something to help Lazarus.

But the Rich Man may have reasoned it to himself: “this beggar is probably an intemperate drunkard and an imprudent lay about who lacks the courage to get a job – Justice requires me to leave him to his devices”. Dives’ mistake was to assume that Lazarus was undeserving and to focus on just one virtue. But one virtue emphasised at the expense of the others becomes self-defeating, as Dives discovered to his eternal cost.

As our politicians face difficult choices, it would be a foolish priest who laid down policy choices. But what Christian faith can do is remind us all, politicians and civil society, that Our Lord requires us to see all those who are poor, disabled and vulnerable as deserving of our support. Only if investigation proves that they are scroungers can we challenge their need for support. We must assume virtue until we discover vice.

Let’s remember Dives’ mistake was to treat Lazarus as the undeserving poor. In these austere times, there is pressure to assume that the vulnerable members of society are responsible for their own plight. Our faith in Christ strengthens us to resist that assumption; until proven otherwise, the poor and the weak need our help.

In this Mass, we encounter the sacrifice of Christ, the one who became poor and vulnerable. As we share in his sacrifice, we give thanks that he has called us to this great vocation of Christian living and for some of us, the vocation to public service in politics. Thank you for accepting that vocation and may God give you temperance and prudence with courage and justice at this demanding time.

Conservative Conference diary: day 4

Posted on October 12 2012 by Liam Allmark, Leave a comment

Well our conference journey came to an end in Birmingham Symphony Hall with David Cameron’s speech…which you have probably by now seen analysed to death by every single political commentator in the UK!

In a speech that was strong on message but light on policies, perhaps the most interesting thing from our perspective was just how much attention welfare got; in fact ‘welfare that works’ represents one third of Mr. Cameron’s message for the next election, alongside the need for a strong private sector and decent schools.

The language used (the “evils”, “unfairness”, “injustice” and “tragedy” of the current system) as well as the fact that the Prime Minister himself announced a review of housing benefit for the under 25s, indicates that the government’s commitment to a further welfare shake-up, goes right to the top.

Some of the lines were very encouraging: few will argue that “work isn’t slavey, poverty is slavery” or that “no one is a write-off”. But the big questions remain: in a age of unemployment how do you ensure a safety net is in place for those who simply cannot find work, and if no one is a write-off who do we properly support those who because of illness or disability may never work?

Nick Clegg today set out his own position by accusing his coalition partners of hitting the poorest first. Some analysts are already putting this down to some post conference-season partisan sniping rather than a genuine divide in the government over benefits. Whether this is true remains to be seen, but one thing is for certian…the debate over welfare has really only just begun.

Conservative Conference diary: day 3

Posted on October 10 2012 by Liam Allmark, Leave a comment

Tuesday was a day for big speeches at the Conservative Conference with Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Chris Grayling all addressing a packed auditorium.

Johnson, a favourite with the Conservative faithful, laid out his vision for facilitating job growth in the capital through high quality education, policing, housing and infrastructure. Positively, he also reaffirmed his commitment to the London Living Wage, recognising the severity of in-work poverty.

The thrust of Theresa May’s speech focussed on immigration, with a promise to “never again” allow what the Conservatives view as out-of-control levels under Labour. She also teed-up new Justice Secretary Chris Grayling’s “tough” plans for the criminal justice system, including life sentances for people twice convicted of violent or sexual crimes, and powers for victims to influence sentencing in anti-social behaviour case.

The second proposal in particular is likely to throw up some tough questions, including the extent to which we should allow untrained and emotionally involved members of the public to affect the delicate balance between punishment and rehabilitation, especially when young people are involved.

Outside the auditorium our day was taking up with meeting MPs regarding prison regimes, and attending some exciting fringes including a Care and Support Alliance even with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and a Save the Children event featuring Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Conservative Conference diary: day 2

Posted on October 9 2012 by Liam Allmark, Leave a comment

As expected, our second day at the Conservative Cnference was dominated by plans for further welfare cuts. George Osborne laid out plans to take another £10 billion out of the system; a move that we view as far too much far to soon. With many provisions of the recnt Welfare Reform Act still to be implemented, and thousnads of families already resorting to foodbanks or short term loans just to get by, it is simply dangerous to already be announcing such a deep additional cut.

Other focuses throughout the day included a fascinating discussion led by think-thank Policy Exchange, about the election of Police and Crime Commissioners for the first time next month. Amongst the issues covered were the low voter turnout forecast and how this will affect the new Commissioners mandates, as well as how the model will impact upon specific areas of crime such as domestic violence.

We also attended a Demos fringe event exploring different methods of measuring poverty, a theme that has been visible at all three conference, and held meetings with MPs on a range of issues from welfare to social care.

In the evening we once again joined with our colleagues from CAFOD to host Mass for delegates. Fr Christopher Jamison delivered a challenging sermon around stigmatisation of the poor during what was the first ever Mass to be held in the secure zone of the Conservative conference. Afterwards many people stayed around to chat about the Church’s work at home and abroad, and the key issues facing us over the coming year.

Conservative Conference diary: day 1

Posted on October 7 2012 by Liam Allmark, Leave a comment

Before the Conservative Party Conference was even fully underway, pre-announcements around further cuts to welfare spending were already raising the stakes in what is set to be a crucial week few days for the government and the country.

Front pages on the first full day of the conference will be dominated by Chancellor George Osbourne’s plans for a further £10 billion worth of cuts to the benefits system. Some particularly dangerous ideas, such as a blanket removal of housing benefit from people under 25, were floated by the Prime Minister earlier this year and look set to return in the Chancellor’s keynote speech on Monday.

A number of charities including CSAN raised concerns the first time around about the detrimental impact that such policies would be likely to have on the UK’s most vulnerable people, particularly considering that the full affects of the recently-passed Welfare Reform Act have not even been realised yet.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith will also be taking to the stage tomorrow, where he is likely to fill in some of the detail and plans for implementation. Whilst Osbourne runs the show at the Treasury it is IDS who will ultimately have to guide the cuts through Parliament.

In other news we enjoyed a great start-of-conference service at a local Church courtesy of the Conservative Christian Felllowship, and attended a Care and Support Alliance even where we had the opportunity to meet with new Health Secreatary Jeremy Hunt to outline some of our concerns about the social care system. Early tomorrow morning we’ll be turning our attention to criminal justice, with a session on the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Welfare however, will undoubtedly be the story of the day…….

Labour Conference diary: day 4

Posted on October 4 2012 by Liam Allmark, Leave a comment

We kicked off the morning of our final day at the Labour Conference by meeting with MPs to discuss the forthcoming implementation of the Welfare Reform Act. This followed on from quite a sobering Child Poverty Action Group and USDAW fringe event on Tuesday night, where many delegates shared first hand experiences of proverty affecting their local areas. Interestingly many felt that Labour should be doing a lot more to stand up for families who are literally struggling to get by, both those on benefits and those on low wages.

In the main auditorium criminal justice was one of the key themes being tackled, with a keynote speech from Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Accusing the coalition government of beng soft on crime, Ms. Cooper promised to ‘fight privatisation’ of the police service and laid out plans for a new Police Standards Authority. She also placed a welcome emphasis on tackling domestc violence, which currently results in the death of two women every week.

This speech was followed by Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham’s eagerly anticipated address. After launching a crowd-pleasing attack on the coalition’s handling of the NHS, Mr. Burnham shared his vision of a fully integrated service for health, social care and mental health support. This will be welcome news for many organisations in the care sector and will undoubtedly be one of the big political issues in the run up to the 2015 election.

We finished off our conference schedule by hosting a Mass and Reception with our colleagues from CAFOD. Conference delegates including MPs packed out a room in the main arena to celebrate Mass with Fr Bernard Wilson, then learn more about the Church’s support for the poor both at home and abroad. It was a fitting end to a busy week, which we’ll be doing again at the Conservative Confrence in Birmingham next week.

Labour Conference diary: day 3

Posted on October 3 2012 by Liam Allmark, Leave a comment

We started Tuesday with a breakfast discussion on welfare reform and the ‘perfect storm’ of benefit cuts, job losses and rising prices. Interestingly the panel included a journalist, who gave his take on the way this will play out in the media. As before it was a pretty bleak picture: misunderstandings and high-profile cases of people abusing the system have resulted in significant public support for restricting benefits, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of claiments are not exploiting the system at all and many are still struggling to meet basic needs even when working.

After that we had some very useful meetings with MPs on welfare sanctions and criminal justice. Then it was time for the main event: Ed Miliband’s speech….

This was widely regarded as Mr. Miliband’s moment to prove whether he is ‘Prime Ministerial material’ and few have disputed that the no-notes speech was strong in terms of oratory. As for its content, the key message was that Labour must be a ‘One Nation’ party creating a ‘One Nation Britain’ where prosperity is fairly shared and people come together to jointly face national challenges such as the economic downturn.

So what does this mean in practice when it comes to key social issues?

On education and jobs Mr. Miliband promised a fresh focus on those who do not attend university including a new technical baccalaureate as an alternative ‘gold standard’ qualification; he also outlined plans to oblige companies with public contracts to take on apprentices.

When it came to welfare the Labour leader emphasised the need to support those who cannot work, particularly disabled people. Charities and Churches will be on the look out for more detail of the party’s position on the issue over the coming months, especially following Liam Byrne’s indication that a futue Labour government would still make savings by cutting benefits in some areas.

The crisis in the care system also featured in the speech, with Mr. Milband telling those assembled that older people in our society deserve greater dignity. We can expect more from Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham when he give his address later on today.

There was also a promise of fairness in the tax system (echoing Nick Clegg’s focus in Brighton last week) and a fresh crack down on employers who exploit workers by not paying the minimum wage.

Following the speech things are a bit quieter around the conference venue, but there are still plenty of debates and discussions to be had before things draw to a close on Thursday…..

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