The Big Society Event: The Dudley Approach took place on the evening of 18th November 2010 and was an opportunity for local communities, businesses and the public sector to discuss what they would like to happen in Dudley around the "Big Society" through a number of workshops.
The purpose of the event was to begin to consider what Dudley's response to the Big Society would be.
The event included speakers from
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Sarah Dugan (Chair of Dudley Community Partnership and Chief Executive Dudley Primary Care Trust) to provide an introduction,
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Toby Blume (Chief Executive Urban Forum) to give an idea of the thinking behind the big society, Karen Leach (Localise West Midlands) followed by
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Cllr. Les Jones (Deputy Leader of Dudley Council) with responses to the thinking form a local angle, and
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Paul McTague (Aquarius) who gave an example of Big Society in action with some information around "The Big Society and recovery from addictions".
The event was attended by 118 people (not including the speakers, facilitators and workshop leads) with 69 from the Public Sector, 5 from the Private Sector and 44 from the Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector. Of the 69 Public Sector attendees 54 where from Dudley Council which also included 8 elected members. Other Public Sector organisations that were represented were the Environment Agency, Job Centre Plus, Natural England, Dudley Primary Care Trust, West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service, West Midlands Probation Services and Crime Reduction Initiatives.
At the event 62 key messages were received as part of feedback for the event, as well as 57 evaluation forms and 435 tweets received by the following morning.
Dosti and the DCP both produced 'Big Society Special Edition' newsletters, giving an overview of the Big Society and highlighting case studies from across the borough of the 'Big Society in Action' within the voluntary, community and faith sector and the public sector, respectively. The newsletters both can be found at the foot of this page.
