By Ewan King, OPM director.

Now that the government’s new strategy for achieving community integration is finally here, what can local authorities and partners do to put its broad principles into practice?

About two months ago I was talking to a civil servant involved in drafting the long-awaited Integration Strategy – the government’s position paper on how we will build a more integrated and cohesive society. I asked her about what the paper would cover, and she immediately told me not to expect a grand launch or a detailed ‘road map’ setting out exactly what local authorities and their partners need to do to create a more integrated society. It will be more of a ‘vision statement’ than a traditional white or green paper, she said, and wouldn’t be loaded with detailed policies, funded initiatives, or appendices setting out implementation timescales.

And so it transpires. The new strategy Creating the Conditions for Integration is only 23 pages long, and fairly light on detail – not a surprise for anyone who has read any recent polices from the strategy’s parent department, DCLG. Why write thousands of words, when only a few will do seems to be the guiding principle.

The policy is shaped around five main themes – common ground, responsibility, social mobility, participation and empowerment, and tackling intolerance and extremism; a simple diagram is presented in the document that denotes how all of these collectively contribute to integration. The idea is that each local area should work out what’s best in terms of putting these high level principles into practice, but where does one begin?   Continue reading →