Dominic Williamson with Labour, Bournemouth

Setting off on the train from a wet and stormy London the prospect of a few more days by the sea was losing its appeal. By Southampton though the sun was breaking through and by the time I had picked up my credentials and found my way to the conference centre the sky was blue and things were looking up.

Outside I bumped into (Lord) Victor Adebowale, head of Turning Point, and we made our way through the airport style security and into the so-called Security Island, which includes the conference centre and the main hotels.

From the balcony in the main auditorium I caught the end of Hazel Blear's contribution to a debate on equalities. She was followed by Dave Prentis and Harriet Harman, the new Dept Leader. Prezza was watching from the wings. The transition from the Blair to Brown administrations looks very smooth from here.

They were followed a showcase of the converts: Quentin Davies, the former Tory MP who crossed the floor of the Commons as Brown came to power and Shaun Woodward, former Tory, now Northern Ireland secretary.

The Big Event of the week was of course Gordon Brown's first speech as PM, moved from the traditional Tuesday slot to this afternoon. There was a distinct buzz of anticipation among the delegates and by the time I started out for a lunchtime fringe delegates were already queuing to get their seats. Unfortunately by the time I had found the fringe venue out of the security zone the room was full. Colleagues Alice Evans and Jenny Edwards had more luck.

Later we watched Gordon Brown's speech on a large screen in the exhibition hall. He was upbeat and optimistic: there is no problem facing our society that we cannot overcome when we work together; much about meeting aspiration and unlocking the talents of all; more about personalised public services. Several mentions of housing but nothing on homelessness or social exclusion. We'll work on getting in on his agenda for next year!

I made sure I was early for my first evening event, a packed Independent fringe on what Labour must do to win a fourth term. The panel included Neil Kinnock, Jon Cruddas MP, Patricia Hewitt MP and Ed Miliband MP, minister for social exclusion and tasked to write the Labour Manifesto.

After the speeches - and a bit intimidated in front of such a group of political heavyweights - I asked the panel how Labour could build on the progress the Government has made on tackling rough sleeping and what the manifesto should say about getting government departments to work together to address deep social exclusion and end homelessness.

Patricia Hewitt gave a strong response, recognising that it is "absolutely critical" that we recognise the small but significant number of people whose lives are ruined by a cluster of issues such as drugs, alcohol, mental health and crime. Despite all the progress, she thought we haven't yet really made the scale of investment needed.

Ed Miliband said that Patricia was right about people with chaotic lives and added that the manifesto needed to have a narrative of who needs public services, which need to be universal but also targeted at particular communities with extra help for those who need them.

Afterwards, as usual, I handed out copies of Ending Homelessness to the panel. We will be looking to meet with Ed Miliband over the next month and talking to other ministers to continue the past years work trying to influence the manifesto.

Part 2

Tuesday was another busy day. Alice made an early start with a breakfast meeting including Iain Wright MP, the minister responsible for homelessness policy. Between us we covered a wide range of fringes covering housing, health, social exclusion and local government.

Jenny attended the Guardian fringe with Polly Toynbee, Ed Miliband and John Cruddas MP.

Later we had a glass of well earned wine at the DeHavilland evening reception where we shared notes with the Turning Point posse.

On Wednesday morning I arrived in the conference centre the next day to find Jenny very excited after talking to Ed Miliband at the Labour Party stall. He’d said he woke up in the night thinking about what we had been saying at the fringe meetings and wanted to meet up with us after the conference season.

Jenny had her photo taken with him holding up a sign saying: “I want to change Britain by … ENDING HOMELESSNESS”. Fantastic!

I had been hearing from various people that John Mann MP was likely to be influential in the development of what the Labour manifesto would say about drug treatment. I tracked him down in the PLP office and we sat down over coffee.

His constituency, Bassetlaw, includes a number of ex-mining community that were experiencing high levels of heroin use, particularly among young people. He worked with his local PCT to develop a GP-led pathway of health, housing and work for drug users. He believes that getting people to access mainstream GPs to begin their treatment was instrumental in the success of the scheme, as was ensuring that people had stable housing and a chance to get into work.

This sounds remarkably like the Integrated Pathways approach that we have been promoting for some time. I told him about our Clean break project. He was very interested although we acknowledged the need for an approach that responded to the local profile of drug use and homelessness. He asked me to send him a half page on what we would like to see in the manifesto. We will stay in touch.

Now running a bit late, I headed up to the main conference hotel for my designated lunchtime fringe, a New Economics Foundation meeting on 'Measuring what matters – how can government measure what really matters to drive policy'.

NEF are looking at ways that organisations can measure and report on the social, economic and environmental value they create. Speakers included Lisa Sanfilippo (NEF) Lucy de Groot (IdeA), Dean Westcott (ACCA) and Paul Coen (CEO of the LGA). Unfortunately Andy Burnham MP, Chief Sectretary to the Treasury, wasn’t able to make it.

With an audience largely of local councillors it was a good opportunity for me to talk about the potential of LAAs to deliver holistic services for people with multiple needs but how we need tools that can prove the impact and demonstrate the return on the investment. There is real potential for us to work with NEF on this agenda and Lisa and I have agreed to meet up soon to see what we can do.

Meanwhile Jenny had been to a fringe meeting run by the Smith Institute and had talked to Wilf Stevenson. He is one of Gordon Brown's closest friends and his think tank is influential in Number 10. Outside on the terrace in front of the hotel Jenny introduced me to Wilf and we all agreed to explore doing some joint work in the future.

That was the end of our time in Bournemouth and we headed for the train, pockets bulging with business cards and with a very long list of opportunities to follow up. Waiting in the station café we sat and chatted with Trevor Phillips, chair of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission that has replaced the CRE and other equality commissions.

The question of whether there will be an early election was dominating the discussion across the conference, with journalists sidling up to anyone trying to ferret out hints of which way the decision may go.

It was remarkable how Tony Blair has disappeared from the scene like a mirage.

The amazing thing about being at these party conferences is that all the political people you need to talk to are all there and accessible. You are surrounded by people who it normally takes weeks to try to see - if you can get to them at all. Aside from the fringe meetings there are endless chances of making new connections around the exhibition, cafes and bars. The list of MPs, ministers and other influencers that we talked to is too long to cover here.

And you can get on telly too... admittedly this time as I called home on my mobile walking up and down behind David Miliband as he was interviewed live by BBC 24...

18 September 2007

Dominic with the Liberal Democrats, Brighton

While the Liberal Democrats are squeezed in the "fight for the centre ground" in British politics, a position reflected in their recent lower poll ratings, they remain important players at the local level in many areas and run some crucial local authorities.

My objectives for this conference are to ensure our campaign messages are raised with key national figures and to identify local leaders who may be keen to work with us and our members. With the devolution agenda, LAAs etc local leadership is crucial and we need to work with all parties to influence this agenda.

Learning from previous party conferences we have eschewed running our own events or exhibition stands, both of which suck up more resource than we have available, and seek opportunities to meet and engage with the key players we need to influence.

So early yesterday evening I headed to the IPPR's fringe meeting entitled Top Down vs Front Line with a panel including Vince Cable MP (shadow chancellor), Richard Lambert from the CBI, Steve Bundred CEO of the Audit Commission, Lucy De Groot from Idea and Councillor David Tutt Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council. The debate was over the extent to which Liberal Democrats should support the use of markets to deliver public services and what impact such reforms have been having on public services .

At question time I pointed out that the Supporting People programme is already delivering £1.7 billion of commissioned services, many of which are delivered by third sector organisations. The crucial issue is to ensure that excluded people such as homeless people, and the agencies that run these services, must be enabled to take a meaningful part in the decision making processes, especially when it comes to commissioning and procurement. Unless local leaders focus on this, the opportunities presented by the localism agenda and LAAs will be lost.

Head nodding from David Tutt encouraged me to chat with him after the meeting. He was very interested in projects bringing together different services under one roof such as the young service run from an old cinema in Worthing. We will follow up with him after the conference season.

A quick fish n chips supper on the seafront, then off to a hot crowded room at the back of the Old Ship hotel to attend the launch of a new book Social Liberalism for the 21st Century. Among the contributors and speaking on the panel was Steve Webb MP who is leading on writing the party's election manifesto. After the meeting I had a quick chat with Steve, gave him a copy of our Ending homelessness - from vision to action pamphlet and told him about Ming Campbell's visit to a hostel a couple of weeks ago, which we facilitated along with Look Ahead Housing and Care.

Am now off to a lunchtime New Statesman fringe meeting with Paul Holmes MP, Lib Dem housing spokesperson.

Part 2

Tuesday morning, I arrived in the main hall to listen to the debate on tax. The Lib Dems are promising to rearrange the tax system within the existing overall spending envelope but with a greater emphasis on green taxes and replacing the Council Tax with a local income tax. Many of the contributions from delegates focused on what should happen to inheritance tax and whether local tax system should include elements of land valuation to reflect wealth as well as income.

Riveting, but not really what I am here for. So I took the opportunity to nip into the conference VIP business centre overlooking the beach where you can recharge your phone and check emails at a cyber café. Fortunately the woman guarding the door is far too nice to actually enquire about your VIP status, and anyway I figure what could be more important that representing the homelessness sector?

A key element of the party conferences is the exhibition hall where organisations compete to offer breath-freshening sweets, interactive displays and branded stress relievers to tempt delegates to come and see what they are promoting.

I had a chat with the people at the Electoral Commission stand about whether hostel managers have a duty to register their residents on the electoral roll when councils send out the annual renewal notice. Apparently they should, and they promised to send me details that I could circulate to members. Homeless Link is encouraging our members to get their service users registered to vote. Click here to find out.

Next, a short stroll along the prom to a lunchtime fringe meeting hosted by the New Statesman entitled ‘The Future Of Housing’. Speakers included Zenna Atkins, Chair of the Places for People group and Paul Holmes MP, Lib Dem Housing Spokesperson. Listening to the contributions it became apparent that the current housing debate focuses on increasing overall supply, building council homes, helping first time buyers onto the housing ladder, planning and ecohomes. Homelessness and the part housing has to play in tackling social exclusion just doesn't seem to figure on the agenda, or at least not here.

Often at conference fringe meetings you find that the main speaker -especially ministers and their shadows- are booked to speak at two meetings in the same slot. Knowing this I had positioned myself to intercept Paul Holmes and introduce myself as he was leaving the room on the way to his next gig.

I mentioned our recent meeting with Ming Campbell, which he had discussed with his leader, and we agreed to meet once the conference season was over. He left with a copy of Ending homelessness and a business card.

We recently arranged for Ming Campbell to visit a Look Ahead hostel to meet some of their customers to learn more about homelessness. He referred to one of the young women he met there in his end of conference speech.

Dominic Williamson in Blackpool with the Conservatives

The final conference in the season and the media are focused on whether David Cameron’s Conservatives can pull enough rabbits out of their policy hat to dent Labour’s 8-point lead in the polls and scare Gordon Brown off calling an early election.

Arriving in Blackpool on Monday morning, I headed into the Winter Gardens where the main event is happening, recalling the last time I was here twenty years ago at the National Union of Students conference. Is it really that long ago...?

In advance of the conference we had arranged with Alistair Burt MP, shadow minister for local government and regeneration and deputy party chairman, to visit the Salvation Army’s Bridge Project. Our regional manager, Paul Connery, had been impressed by the services there and Mr Burt was keen to learn more about the issues faced by frontline homelessness services.

Over the past year we have arranged visits for MPs, ministers and shadow ministers to projects run by our members across the country. Our aim was to raise the profile of Supporting People, HCIP and the work of the sector in advance of the Comprehensive Spending Review. One Conservative MP, Oliver Heald, spent a week in a hostel in Sheffield and wrote about his experience in a blog:

Anyway, in the conference centre I met Alistair coming out of his fringe meeting to check he had all the details for the meeting. He was off to another meeting in north Blackpool first and would join us later. I headed out of the centre and found my way to the Sally Army Citadel a few blocks away. Jenny arrived shortly after and we had a brief chat with Major Geoff Chape before Alistair and his wife Eve arrived.

Geoff showed us around the Bridge Project in the newly refurbished basement and introduced us to Fiona who runs the in project. The staff were clearing up between sessions but Geoff and Fiona gave a great account of the work there and the impact it was having. There is a nurse based on the site and they have a fully fitted facility ready for a GP when they can find one. Alistair was interested in access to hostels, the kinds of problems people face, issues around funding and how the project works with the local health service and council. We saw the Bistro with the training kitchen and the smart training suite where people can learn new skills in a positive environment.

On the way back it was clear that the visit had made a deep impression on Alistair and Eve. It was really helpful in underlining our policy messages.

Back at the conference centre I picked a session called A Conservative Vision For Local Government with Eric Pickles, shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government speaking. As I went in I saw Sir George Young MP and sat down with him at the back of the room.

Sir George was a government minister in the early 1990s and had much to do with the development of the Rough Sleepers Initiative – although he became notorious at the time for allegedly referring to rough sleepers by joking "Aren't they the people you step over when you are coming out of the opera?" I had met him several times when he was minister, including once when I was managing Shelterline, when he visited and spent some time listening in to calls. I think he was pleased that someone still remembers his positive work in relation to rough sleeping!

The rest of the meeting, in a packed and unbearably hot room, was uninspiring and several members of the audience were dropping off to sleep during several long speeches. I tried to get a question in, but wasn’t called by the chair.

Off next to a fringe meeting by Drugscope and Addaction with David Burrowes MP, who led on the work on addictions by the Centre for Social Justice and who is a shadow justice minister.

In contrast to the previous meeting there were only about five or six other people in the room and later it became clear that they were nearly all from a scientology-linked organisation called Narconon. They offer a detox programme in Sussex that apparently involves lots of vitamins and saunas. They seem to be huge in the states and say they are expanding here.

In his presentation, David Burrowes explained that the Social Justice Centre findings was a critique of the current focus on harm reduction and argued for a much greater effort to help people escape drugs and stay drug-free. He thought that they have been unfairly represented as saying they were against methadone and other substitutes completely. Instead they argue that methadone replaces one addiction for another and in fact has a very poor record in keeping people off street drugs. He did say, however, that they accept that as a part of a regime of stabilisation for very chaotic users, that substitutes do have a role to play.

At question time I picked up on what Deborah Cameron from Addaction had said about housing being the single biggest barrier to tackling addiction and I talked about our Clean Break project and the need to integrate treatment and housing. We will follow up with David after the conference.

Given the importance of the issue to the social justice agenda it was a shame more delegates hadn’t turned up. Jenny, Martin and Ruth from Drugcope, Barbara and I set off into town for a curry and a glass of wine to commiserate.

The following day Jenny and I spent the morning around the exhibition halls chatting to various people including Brian Pomeroy, who was chair of Homeless Link when the organisation was born following the merger. More recently Brian has chaired the financial inclusion taskforce and is a member of the Audit Commission. We talked about whether gambling addiction is showing up as an issue for our members. We should know soon from our Services and Needs Profile survey. Please let us know if you have any cases where this is an issue.

At lunchtime Jenny and I strolled up the prom prom prom to the Centre for Social Justice fringe in the Churchill Room at the Imperial Hotel. Ian Duncan Smith wasn’t able to make it so Philippa Stoud and Cameron Watt presented their latest report Breakthrough Britain (a huge publication setting out recommendations to heal “Britain’s broken society”).

One of their key themes is how people find solutions on the ground in communities through the voluntary sector. To demonstrate this point they had two people from organisation XLP talking about their work on the estates and in schools south London.

In his speech Cameron Watt said that the Compact wasn’t working for the voluntary sector and issues such as short term funding undermined the good work the sector could do. At question time I asked about how they thought they might square the circle of the Compact’s promise of full cost recovery with the reality of marketisation, competitive tendering and procurement on the ground.

Afterwards I introduced myself to Cameron and we agreed to meet for coffee once the dust has settled after the conferences.

Jenny was heading off on an earlier train, so I pushed myself to attend one more fringe – one about tackling poverty in the UK - but when I learnt that all the speakers I wanted to meet had pulled out, I bailed out too.

Instead I sat in the hotel lobby for a while checking my emails, but ended up getting the giggles. Within earshot a woman from IPPR was greeting the delegates as they came through the door with a perfectly Pythonesque “Poverty sir? to the right… Yes madam, poverty? this way… Poverty, sir? over here…”

I realised I’d done enough conferencing for one year…