Francis Maude: Ed Miliband should apologise “for the appalling legacy that his government left.”
David Cameron will say it is his “mission in politics” to make the Big Society succeed – amid claims it is being wrecked by spending cuts.
In a speech to social entrepreneurs in London, the prime minister will vow not to “back down” over negative headlines.
And he will set out details of how a £200m Big Society bank to fund voluntary projects will work.
But critics say the fund will not be nearly enough to make up for cuts in local authority funding.
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, became the latest public figure to enter the debate on Sunday, warning that investment in public services is needed if the Big Society was to succeed.
“I think everybody has got to be concerned,” he told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show.
“The Big Society, which is right, has got to build capacity and investment has got to go into it.”
Sir Stephen Bubb, who heads the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, said charities and social enterprises were already having to make redundancies and scale back their work.
He told Sky News: “You can hardly build a bigger society if the very people at the heart of that vision are cutting back on the work they do.”
But in his speech on Monday, Mr Cameron will insist the policy is still on course.
“Let me make one thing absolutely clear: I’m not going to back down from what I believe in just because of a few bad headlines.
“I would say we have had a huge communication success because everyone is talking about it”
Francis Maude Cabinet Office minister
“The Big Society is my mission in politics. It’s what I want us – as a country – to build. Together. And I’m going to fight for it every day, because the Big Society is here to stay.”
He will blame years of “Big Government” for creating a “broken society” in which people have “become incapable of taking their own decisions and taking responsibility for their lives”.
“The Big Society is how we’ll fix our broken society, how we’ll strengthen families, how we’ll bring communities together,” the PM will say.
And he will add: “The Big Society is not a government initiative. It’s about giving you the initiative – to take control of your life and work with friends, neighbours and colleagues to improve things around you.”
Mr Cameron is expected to announce details of a Big Society bank, which will use money from dormant bank accounts to inject £200m in working capital projects approved by the government.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Big Society Bank’s purpose is to help provide start up capital so that charities and social enterprises can increase their scale and take up the opportunities offered by opening up public services. This market is potentially worth billions of pounds.”
On Sunday, Labour leader Ed Miliband said government cuts had made the Big Society a “failure” – because people could not volunteer at libraries and Sure Start centres which had closed.
And shadow office minister Tessa Jowell said the fact Mr Cameron had to defend the policy proved all the problems identified with it were true.
“It’s too vague, that people don’t understand what it means, centrally that you cannot combine greater responsibility for civil society, voluntary and community organisation, with cuts in the money that support them to do the work that they do.”
But, in an interview with BBC1’s Politics Show, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude angrily rejected the Labour leader’s claim.
He said: “It’s such a silly thing to say because actually there is so much going on, there are so many ways in which people can get involved and do get involved.
“We have got to look at ways of doing things differently. The idea that you’ve got to have your Sure Start centre and your library and everything all in separate places because otherwise there won’t be places for people to volunteer is simply absurd.
“It’s such an old-fashioned way of looking at things.”
Mr Maude hinted that a promised £100m “transition fund” – to help groups hit by cuts – could be extended.
And he hit back at claims that the government had been unable to communicate to the public what the Big Society actually meant.
“I would say we have had a huge communication success because everyone is talking about it,” he said.
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