Last year I met public affairs chief Peter Bingle who urged charities to “deal with Brown and prepare for Cameron.”

That’s what happened yesterday when Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office with responsibility for the third sector, or “social” sector as he prefers to call it, outlined Conservative policy for financing this vital area.

He told charities at a conference I attended as chair of trustees for the brain injury charity Headway Cambridgeshire about the huge value their services provided – but could not promise any more money. He criticised the government for its slow progress in setting up an independent Social Investment Wholesale Bank in London to help this sector grow.

He focused on Conservative plans to get the jobless off benefits and back to work and the need for effective rehabilitation for prisoners. He believes social enterprises can help and support these groups, and that our prisons are a disgrace with prisoners continually reoffending and having access to drugs.

“Our prison system is frankly a disgrace where people reoffend so often it is difficult for people to get into the mainstream and become productive members of society. People find it easier to get drugs in prison than out, which is an outrage.

“We need to have continuity with the same organisations looking after people in prison, and then for a period after they leave prison, to give them them maximum chance of not reoffending. There is a huge social and financial cost, as well as the human cost, when there is constant reoffending.

“Frankly whichever party gets elected, and I hope it is us, there is not going to be money around. The charitable sector has become much more dependent on government money which I think impinges on its independence and its ability to innovate so what we are looking at is ways in which private money can be provided, how investment capital can be provided for the social sector to enable it to expand. Frankly there is a huge amount of exciting work going on about new ways of delivering that money, new ways of providing expansion capital, working capital, for the crucial organisations who have such a big role to play in meeting the social problems of Britain.”

*I met Harriett Baldwin briefly at the conference. She is vice-chair of The Social Investment Business Board, which organised the event, and chaired a panel discussion. She is also the Conservative parliamentary candidate for West Worcestershire and she impressed me greatly with her accomplished public speaking and excellent presentation skills. It was easy to picture her making speeches in the House.

“It’s practice,” she told me, after I praised her effortless performance.

I made a mental note to go to more Cambridge Toastmasters meetings….