Is it time for change or time for continuity? All three parties are offering a judicious mixture of both. Here we analyse what the manifestos say of direct relevance to corporate community involvement.
Beyond the sound and fury of the campaign, a quite examination of the three main parties’ manifestos reveals many more similarities than differences: very cautious on tax, pace Mr Ashdown; little redrawing (forwards or backwards) of the boundaries of state responsibility; priority for education and training; shift towards welfare-to-work programmes; encourage employee share ownership and participation; new opportunities for young people to volunteer; and above all, everybody supports partnership.
So much, so familiar, in keeping with the spirit of recent years. One new issue is worth highlighting: council housing. The Conservatives set a target to transfer half the stock out of public hands. Labour and Lib Dems are less specific, promising action in partnership with the private sector but allowing for no new public money – which pretty much comes to the same result. If tenants are to win greater control through self-management in these changes, companies will be need help by adding housing to their list of priority issues.
Schools
Conservative: more management autonomy for all schools; encourage more schools to become grant-maintained; one in five schools to specialise in technology, arts, language and sport; continue existing work with industry to connect all schools to the information superhighway, with a new Millennium Lottery fund from 2000 onwards
Labour: public/private partnerships to improve the condition of school buildings; voluntary mentoring schemes to provide one-to-one support for disadvantaged pupils; agreement with BT and cable companies to wire up all schools, libraries, colleges and hospitals; an e-mail address for every child
Liberal Democrat: devolve more powers to schools, with ‘light touch’ local education authorities; bring grant-maintained schools and City Technology Colleges back under LEAs; extend charitable status to all schools; open up schools to the whole community and work with local businesses to provide improved computer education
Life long learning
Conservative: maintain A Levels but broaden range of subjects studied in sixth form; a learning credit for 14 to 21 year olds to choose themselves suitable education or training; introduce National Traineeships and encourage employers to offer Modern Apprenticeships; encourage more employers to become Investors in People
Labour: new opportunities for school children after 14 to acquire knowledge and experience within industry and commerce; broader A Levels and upgraded vocational qualifications; promote adult learning at work, with individual learning accounts – started with ?150 for one million people from TEC budgets and employers encouraged to make voluntary contributions; extend Investors in People to small firms; bring government, industry and education together in a University for Industry, collaborating with the Open University
Liberal Democrat: a new Personal Record of Achievement for school pupils to build up a set of nationally accredited qualifications; a new credit-based qualification system for all post-14 courses; an Individual Learning Account for post-school learning with contributions by employers, the state and individuals; 2% remissible levy on company pay-rolls to encourage investment in training; TECs to lead local partnerships to encourage youth training, with all 16-19 year olds receiving two days a week on-the-job training or education
Welfare to work
Conservative: extend Project Work nationwide, requiring people unemployed for two years to undertake community work, and a new Britain Works scheme using private and voluntary sectors to get people off welfare into work; extend the pilot Parent Plus programme, if it proves successful, to help lone parents into work
Labour: 250,000 places for under 25s with day-release for education and training for a qualification, funded by a windfall tax, through four routes: private sector job with ?60 a week subsidy for six months; non-profit sector, paying benefit plus a fixed sum for six months; environmental task-force, linked to citizens’ service; full time education; these changes overseen by a taskforce led by a business leader and a new minister; for long term unemployed, a new partnerships between government, business, voluntary sector and local authorities;
Liberal Democrat: a self-financing Benefit Transfer Programme, with benefits to long term unemployed given to employers who recruit and train them; a national childcare strategy, with tax relief extended from workplace nurseries to other forms of provision
Partnership at work
Conservative: expand worker ownership through Share Match with the right to free shares so more than half employees of large companies own a stake in their employers
Labour: encourage variety of forms of partnership and enterprise, spreading ownership; support Social Chapter; achieve balance between family life and business needs, with a maximum 48 hour week, right to unpaid parental leave and holiday entitlement; scrap nursery vouchers and reinvest the money saved, with a guaranteed place for all four year olds; age discrimination at work tackled, along with comprehensive civil rights against discrimination for disabled people
Liberal Democrat: give employees a right to consultation and participation; promote profit-sharing and share-owning; extend the Social Chapter to the UK; encourage family-friendly policies, with the right to reduced hours or a career break, for those with caring responsibilities or approaching retirement; tough equal opportunity obligations; ban disability discrimination; give statutory force to the Commission for Racial Equality’s employment code of practice
Voluntary sector
Conservative: develop accreditation for voluntary work to encourage employers to see it as preparation for a paid job; remove 16 hour weekly limited on voluntary work for people receiving incapacity benefit; by the end of 1997, all young people who want to volunteer will be helped to find the opportunity; a new Millennium Commission fund to provide IT facilities to schools, libraries, voluntary organisations and other public places; new ways to distribute Lottery funds for the performing arts, encouraging amateur and community events, and for promoting sporting talent
Labour: national citizens’ service programme for young people who want to make a voluntary contribution, with a broad range of initiatives devised within local communities; older people as volunteers in pre-school and after-school clubs; better coordination between the five Lottery ‘good causes’ and a replacement Millennium Commission for projects not currently eligible, focused on children; seek an efficient non-profit Lottery operator once existing contract expires
Liberal Democrat: voluntary citizens’ service offering up to two years on community projects; a national communications network based on the Internet
Small business
Conservative: cut the rate of corporation tax; reduce cost of business rate to small firms; less regulation
Labour: statutory interest on late payment of debts; improve support for high-tech start-ups; better advice and training through a reform of the Business Links network and the University for Industry; consult business on reintroducing local business rate
Liberal Democrat: encourage banks to expand small business funds and ‘seed-corn’ capital; new codes of banking practice; statutory right to interest on late payments; abolish business rates and introduce new rating system
environment
Conservative: set tough ‘polluter pays’ targets for air and water quality; use tax system to encourage vehicles and fuel which do not pollute; a separate Green Manifesto to be published
Labour: local authorities to adopt plans to protect environment; promote energy conservation; environmental taskforce linked to Citizens’ Service scheme
Liberal Democrat: shift taxation to pollution and resource depletion and away from jobs and wealth; new national indicators of quality of life and environmental sustainability; improved product standards and labelling; encourage recycling; ban animal testing of cosmetics, weapons and tobacco; set up a new government department just for environment and energy
Regions
Conservative: regional government would take power away from local authorities; instead give more powers to neighbourhoods, for example to parish councils
Labour: regional development agencies to coordinate and encourage economic development, along with regional chambers to coordinate transport, planning and economic development; but all within existing spending limits
Liberal Democrat: regional development agencies to build partnerships between businesses, councils, Business Links, TECs and chambers of commerce; set up regional technology transfer centres to coordinate companies, universities and government laboratories; elected regional government
Local government
Conservative: extend the ‘challenge’ principle of competitive allocation of funds
Liberal Democrat: local authorities to work in partnership with local business and voluntary organisations; councils to have a new duty to promote economic, social and environmental well-being of their area;
Liberal Democrat: greater freedom for local councils with ‘general power of competence’; set up local development corporation as partnerships between local government, and the private and voluntary sectors; encourage community banks and credit unions
Housing
Conservative: refocusing Single Regeneration Budget on decaying public housing estates, in partnership with private sector, to encourage more than half to choose to transfer to new landlords
Labour: partnership between public, private and housing association sectors to promote good social housing
Liberal Democrat: partnerships between public sector, housing associations and the private sector
Corporate Citizenship Briefing, issue no: 33 – April, 1997
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