New Labour came to power in 1997 under the leadership of Tony Blair. There was an expectation of fundamental changes following 18 years of Conservative government. The welfare state, which “in its present form is neither sustainable nor desirable” (Sainsbury, 1998, p 123) would need radical reform “to make it responsive to the altered circumstances in which we live today” (Giddens, 1998, p 20). The ‘Third Way’ political perspective (Blair, 1998) is sometimes unclear, ambiguous or unpredictable (Powell, 1999), causing uncertainties about the direction, policies and values of the new government. There is, however, a complex mixture of policy change and policy continuity – both with ‘Old Labour’ (though few) and with the Conservatives. This is also an explicitly ‘populist’ government.

There was a commitment from the start to accept Conservative spending plans until 1999 (Bochel and Bochel, 1998; Burchardt and Hills, 1999). The tension between ever-increasing demands on resources and promoting benefits would be difficult to resolve for a government pledged not to increase social spending and, at the same time, be inclusive and ‘open’. It was also said that this was a Treasury with the implicit conceptualisation of social security as the “bills of economic and social failure” (Deakin and Parry, 2000, p 180).

The implication of the ‘Third Way’ for information would seem to be a shift away from the social democratic paternalism of ‘Old Labour’ and from the party's traditional emphasis on social rights. With a redefined relationship between individuals and the state, an active government would expect to inform citizens of their rights, their responsibilities and their opportunities (Blair, 1998; Greenaway, 1998). In turn, citizens would be expected to be more active in exploring opportunities (Williams, 1999) and meeting their own welfare needs. How far would this be reflected in information policies? Is it possible to detect attitudes to citizenship in New Labour's approach to information and the promotion of welfare – and from social policies themselves? This chapter gives examples of policy change, of continuity and of innovation.

A hopeful and early sign of change in 1997 was the reversal of the Conservative's intention to close all Benefits Agency (BA) offices in Wales. The consequences of doing so would have been severe in many ways, not least in terms of providing a source of information to claimants.