Civil Renewal Unit

Aims & Objectives

The Civil Renewal Unit has been created to promote the Home Secretary’s agenda for civil renewal, working across the Home Office and Government.

Civil renewal is both a political philosophy and a practical approach to improving quality of life. It involves local people in identifying and solving the problems that affect their communities, and has three essential ingredients:

• Active citizens who contribute to the common good
• Strengthened communities in which people work together to find solutions to problems
• Partnership in meeting public needs, with government and agencies giving appropriate support and encouraging people to take part in democracy and influence decisions about their communities

The typical civil renewal initiative is involves at its heart the people who are most affected by an issue in their community. It is about ‘doing’ rather than ‘being done to’.

The Civil Renewal Unit promotes this way of working across government to the voluntary and community sector, to partners in local government, and to the public.

The unit has four sections:

1. Community Development

Our task is to devise policy to increase people’s active involvement in the governance of their communities. We work with networks and partnerships of community groups, local authorities, public service providers, and civil society organisations. Our activities include:

• Taking forward the proposals in the Community Capacity Building Review
• Building strategic relationships with organisations working in the community and voluntary sector and sponsoring the the Community Development Foundation
• Identifying specific reform issues raised by civil society organisations to help bring about civil renewal
• Managing a programme of activities to strengthen communities by building on their existing assets, such as skills, facilities, funds and the expertise of local people.

2. Government Action

This section ensures that Government departments take the concerns of civil society organisations into account and that these are also reflected in the policies agreed by the Head of Unit, the Director and Ministers in the Home Office. For example:

• We work with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Local Government Association to develop a common understanding on civil renewal and its implications for local government
• We work with the Home Office’s Strategic Policy Team to determine key milestones for its contributions to civil renewal in relation to the Home Office’s own policy responsibilities
• We are building an informal Ministerial Network to promote citizens’ engagement.

3. Research and Policy

We provide research and policy advice about civil renewal to government and other organisations, especially those in the voluntary and community sectors and in local government. Our activities include:

• Establishing the Centre for Active Citizenship – the centre for research and good practice case studies on civil renewal
• Developing policy ideas around neighbourhood governance
• Creating a civil renewal network for consultation from existing channels for research information and advise
• Advising on policy ideas proposed for advancing civil renewal

4. Communications

Our role is to explain and promote civil renewal through speeches, interviews, publications, articles and press announcements, and marketing campaigns in partnership with individuals and organisations who share our interest in civil renewal. Our work includes:

• Arranging briefings and presentations for external and internal audiences
• Producing publications for the Home Office and with other government departments and in journals and magazines
• Liaising with Communications Directorate to integrate civil renewal cross government
• Devising social marketing campaigns

Key personnel - Henry Tam is Head of the Civil Renewal Unit.