This lunchtime I took Francis Maude MP, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster, to visit “A Way Out” in Stockton. “A Way Out” is a charity that helps young people and women to get their lives back on track, tackling drug problems and prostituion.
It was really impressive to get a look around their drop in centre and hear about the work that they do. Above all there was a real sense of mission; the staff and volunteers were clearly all passionate about their work and as a result are achieving impressive results. This is the sort of community based grass roots project that the government needs to be encouraging, rather than suffocating them with more and more red tape. A major complaint was the need to jump through hoops and “tick boxes” for funding which meant that time, which could be spent actually making a difference, is being wasted on hitting often meaningless targets.
Francis seemed genuinely interested and hopefully some of the ideas discussed will find their way into the Conservative manifesto at the next election… time will tell!
