Good Local Economics

Without face to face practical support we could be setting new businesses up for an almighty fall, warns Dawn Whiteley

I’m sure many of us are a bit sceptical about ‘evidence based policy’ on the grounds that it involves the expenditure of a lot of time and money on research – which ends up either reminding us of the ‘bleedin’ obvious’, or creating complex consultant designed solutions to a potentially non-existent problem.

While the concept is never far from the centre of debate, the principles behind the Big Society are universal – people need to be empowered and supported to help themselves rather than be supported by the state.