Centre for Social Justice
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The Centre for Social Justice is a centre right British political thinktank set up by Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party to concentrate on finding and supporting new and innovative grass-roots approaches to fighting poverty. Though set up and run by prominent Conservatives, the CSJ has also worked with figures from other parties, such as Labour MP Frank Field MP, former Labour Minister of Welfare Reform between 1997-1998 in order to give it credibility as a cross-party body.
[edit] Activities
- The CSJ holds an annual awards ceremony, the CSJ Awards, to recognise, reward and celebrate grassroots organisations making an exceptional contribution to tackling poverty. For the 2007 Awards a prize fund of £35,000 is available.
- The CSJ Alliance, launched in June 2005, provides a forum where established organisations in the field of poverty relief can work together to build long-term relationships with each other, and to provide an expert voice for politications to be able to 'tap into' the relevant fields of expertise.
- Works published by the CSJ include 'Whatever Happened to Compassionate Conservatism?' (2004) by Tim Montgomerie, and 'Good For Me, Good For My Neighbour' (2005) by Iain Duncan Smith and Danny Kruger.
- The Griffiths Commission on Personal Debt, launched by Oliver Letwin in 2005, was supported and championed by CSJ. CSJ staff were seconded to the Commission
- The www.effectivegiving.co.uk website [1] was launched by CSJ to showcase worthy organisations for potential donors
- The CSJ is currently hosting the work of the Social Justice Policy Group, which was commissioned by Conservative Party leader David Cameron to conduct research and formulate policy on Britain's social problems, including addiction, debt, economic dependency, educational failure, and family breakdown [2]
[edit] People
Advisory Board
- Iain Duncan Smith (Chairman), former leader of the Conservative Party
- Rt Hon William Hague MP, former leader of the Conservative Party
- Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Chairman of the Local Government Association
- Johan Eliasch
- Mark Florman, International Care and Relief
- Robert H Halfon
- Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP
- David Willetts MP
Other Staff
- Philippa Stroud
- Cameron Watt
- Chris Bullivant
- Juliette Ash
[edit] External links
- Centre for Social Justice website.
- Conservative Party - Iain Duncan Smith profile