Questions
by Paul Hazelden

Background

I used to run a charity called 'Crisis Centre Ministries'; it is now 'inHope (Bristol)'. We worked to help people suffering from problems such as homelessness and addiction. The issues these people faced were deeply affected by policies being implemented by the statutory services, based on considerations which were both financial and political.

We did not want to become a political campaigning group, but we did need to engage with political issues. Asking important questions was one of the ways in which we sought to retain our focus but still assist the political debate - and this was easier when the questions were not on the charity website. Hence this page, retained for historic interest now...

Introduction

Our aim is to build relationships with the people who comes to us, with the intention of being able to help them move forward and discover a better life.

Inevitably, quite a bit of our work involves helping people get access to the help which is provided (or which is supposed to be provided) by the state. And we find that various bits of the system do not work the way we understand they should, or the way they should work sometimes seems wrong.

We do not want to pretend we have all the answers. But we certainly have a number of questions. And by asking these questions, and by using them to build a dialogue with the people who can influence, change or help to shape the system, maybe we can play some part in helping build a system which works more effectively to help the people it is supposed to be helping.

The Issues

The key areas where we have concerns and questions can be summarised as follows.

• Policies and procedures associated with using the Criminal Records Bureau ('CRB').
• The provision of alcohol and drug treatment in Bristol.
• The introduction of the 'Individual Budget'.
• The support given in Bristol to homeless pregnant women.