A peek into Bill English’s social investment legacy
A quick peek into Bill English’s social investment approach is in the order given an emerging consensus that it might constitute his one of the lesser known enduring legacies in politics.
Obviously, his successful stint as the country’s Finance Minister for nine years and navigating through the global financial crisis has attracted more “Stardust” than the social investment approach in helping the less-fortunate amongst us in the recent times.
It was only after Bill English had once again plunged into the responsibility of leading National Party through a high decibel electoral campaign late last year that the public started to hear more about this approach.
It was during the election campaign that the then Prime Minister Bill English emerged as a leading voice, possibly second only to then Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, however the most credible voice within the National Party for the cause of “less-privileged” amongst us.
Nonetheless, Mr English’s work on social investment approach started much before he took the daunting task of leading the Party through elections where one is required incessantly to connect with the masses rather than working diligently behind numbers as the Finance Minister.
Speaking at the Institute of Public Administration as Finance Minister on February 19, 2015, Mr English explained this approach as “At its heart, Social Investment is about understanding what makes the most difference to people’s lives, and using evidence to make do more of what works.”
The goal is to support people in difficult circumstances to improve their lives and become more independent.
“Good intentions are absolutely necessary, but not sufficient,” Mr English has often said advocating for his social investment approach.
Too often, success has been defined by how much is spent on something - usually another programme to fill the gaps left by all the previous unsuccessful programmes.
Although expert opinion is divided, as is the political opinion, on the efficacy of social investment approach in dealing with poverty, but Mr English argued that this approach would enable social workers to target in on individual families.
“We are targeting right in on the families that need support…we will deal with them one by one if that is what it takes,” Mr English had roared in the Newshub Leaders Debate, September 3, 2017, explaining how does this approach actually works.
“There are two things you need to do, one is to lift incomes the other is get inside the very toxic mix of social issues which we know are family violence, criminal offending and long-term welfare dependency,” Mr English had then said.
Mr English’s Social Investment approach sought to know three basic things
1. To know what we are trying to achieve by setting clear, measurable goals - like the Better Public Services targets which were introduced in 2012.
2. To know the individual needs of the people, we are trying to help.
3. To know which services will help them best.
The Better Public Services targets which among other things sought to cut the youth crime rate by 25 per cent and to reduce working-age beneficiaries by 25 per cent, had already been abandoned by the new Labour-led government on January 23, 2018.
This was even when many experts and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern herself had acknowledged the merits of Better Public Services target.
“While I agree with mechanisms like that [Better Public Services Target], we are going to have different priorities than the last government. Most people would expect that” Ms Ardern had said earlier this year while scrapping it in favour of setting Labour’s own targets.
Since then the Labour-led government is taking a different approach to address some of the most compelling social issues affecting New Zealand society.
It is important to note that despite the political divide on the ways of addressing social issues, Mr English’s legacy of social investment approach to reducing benefit-dependency, recidivism and poverty would also be remembered in good faith.
A quick peek into Bill English’s social investment approach is in the order given an emerging consensus that it might constitute his one of the lesser known enduring legacies in politics.
Obviously, his successful stint as the country’s Finance Minister for nine years and navigating through the...
A quick peek into Bill English’s social investment approach is in the order given an emerging consensus that it might constitute his one of the lesser known enduring legacies in politics.
Obviously, his successful stint as the country’s Finance Minister for nine years and navigating through the global financial crisis has attracted more “Stardust” than the social investment approach in helping the less-fortunate amongst us in the recent times.
It was only after Bill English had once again plunged into the responsibility of leading National Party through a high decibel electoral campaign late last year that the public started to hear more about this approach.
It was during the election campaign that the then Prime Minister Bill English emerged as a leading voice, possibly second only to then Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, however the most credible voice within the National Party for the cause of “less-privileged” amongst us.
Nonetheless, Mr English’s work on social investment approach started much before he took the daunting task of leading the Party through elections where one is required incessantly to connect with the masses rather than working diligently behind numbers as the Finance Minister.
Speaking at the Institute of Public Administration as Finance Minister on February 19, 2015, Mr English explained this approach as “At its heart, Social Investment is about understanding what makes the most difference to people’s lives, and using evidence to make do more of what works.”
The goal is to support people in difficult circumstances to improve their lives and become more independent.
“Good intentions are absolutely necessary, but not sufficient,” Mr English has often said advocating for his social investment approach.
Too often, success has been defined by how much is spent on something - usually another programme to fill the gaps left by all the previous unsuccessful programmes.
Although expert opinion is divided, as is the political opinion, on the efficacy of social investment approach in dealing with poverty, but Mr English argued that this approach would enable social workers to target in on individual families.
“We are targeting right in on the families that need support…we will deal with them one by one if that is what it takes,” Mr English had roared in the Newshub Leaders Debate, September 3, 2017, explaining how does this approach actually works.
“There are two things you need to do, one is to lift incomes the other is get inside the very toxic mix of social issues which we know are family violence, criminal offending and long-term welfare dependency,” Mr English had then said.
Mr English’s Social Investment approach sought to know three basic things
1. To know what we are trying to achieve by setting clear, measurable goals - like the Better Public Services targets which were introduced in 2012.
2. To know the individual needs of the people, we are trying to help.
3. To know which services will help them best.
The Better Public Services targets which among other things sought to cut the youth crime rate by 25 per cent and to reduce working-age beneficiaries by 25 per cent, had already been abandoned by the new Labour-led government on January 23, 2018.
This was even when many experts and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern herself had acknowledged the merits of Better Public Services target.
“While I agree with mechanisms like that [Better Public Services Target], we are going to have different priorities than the last government. Most people would expect that” Ms Ardern had said earlier this year while scrapping it in favour of setting Labour’s own targets.
Since then the Labour-led government is taking a different approach to address some of the most compelling social issues affecting New Zealand society.
It is important to note that despite the political divide on the ways of addressing social issues, Mr English’s legacy of social investment approach to reducing benefit-dependency, recidivism and poverty would also be remembered in good faith.
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