The “big society” and localism were hot topics at last week’s Conservative party conference. With a number of fringes on these related issues, as well as a mention in David Cameron’s speech, party members and the media alike debated the pros and cons of these agendas in a debate that promises to continue.

But what are the big society and localism? Both intend to devolve power away from the centre to the local. However, whilst localism intends to shift power to local authorities, the “big society” aims to take power from politicians and give it to people – particularly local charities and community groups.

In an article in Runnymede’s most recent issue of its Bulletin magazine I explored the potential implications of these concepts for race equality, which you can read in full here (p 14). In short I argued that whilst these initiatives could provide opportunities to reduce race inequalities, it is crucial that a) those delivering services are properly held to account for the decisions they make and that b) Black and ethnic minority people participate and have a voice in localism/the big society in order to ensure local services reflect the communities they serve.

The exacerbation of postcode lotteries is also a concern - already there are different outcomes for certain ethnic groups in relation to where they live. For example, Black pupils are more likely to be excluded in outer London than inner London – a surprising result given that outer London has similar rates of exclusion to inner London for all non-black groups. This variation suggests that devolving local decision-making to local government or voluntary organisations could sometimes lead to outcomes unfair for certain groups in an area – particularly in areas less familiar with diversity.

On a more positive note, decentralised power under both localism and the big society may lead to public services more effectively tailored to the communities they serve and could provide a real opportunity for ethnic minorities to become directly involved in decision making. However, if decentralization is to be a positive development there needs to be more thinking on how a broad cross section of society can become involved, as well as on how diverse needs can be met by localized services.