Alice Casey (London, involve): Political parties can't get enough participation these days: whether red, blue or yellow, the p-word sits at the top of the list for all. There is an emerging consensus that if the state is to fulfill its objectives of improving public services to meet the demands of the modern era then the co-operation of the public is essential. One such change is the reform of NHS from a curative or sickness service to a preventative or wellness service, as demanded by Derek Wanless in his future-facing reports Securing our Future Health and Securing Good Health for the Whole Population. This is an immensely challenging policy that requires the buy-in of the British public if it is to succeed - and there are many other similarly policy challenges facing government, such as environmental and transport-related behaviour changes.
So if everybody knows that better participation is a ‘good thing' and undoubtedly a necessary thing in a future policy context why do so many processes fall foul of criticism, such as the recent nuclear dialogue and Brown's citizens' juries?
Part of the problem is that for many in the political arena truly participative processes are still a new thing. And there is much disagreement over how to ‘do' participation, when do to it, and what to do with the public energy and insight generated after a process takes place. The public may have been part of opinion polling and focus groups in the past but, rather than merely listening to opinion gathered, the politicians now need to respond satisfactorily to a newly ‘empowered' citizenry - which requires a change in their thinking.
Another factor is that the British public have never been busier in terms of demands on their time, and are frequently bombarded with public service information and requests to participate through a variety of channels, whether in relation to local or national initiatives, government focused or voluntary sector. But why would a time-pressed member of the public seek to engage in participative policy processes if they see no value or relevance to them?
Involve is at present working with the National Consumer Council to put a Code of Good Practice together which will address these problems. The work will provide a high profile, recognised and supported set of guidelines to give quality assurance to future participatory processes, with the hope that raising awareness of how to operate a successful and worthwhile process will lead to increased understanding of what makes a process valuable and worthwhile for all parties involved: the citizens, commissioners and delivery bodies.
Additionally, Involve is currently gathering opinion from members of the public on how they would like to be involved in policy decision making through the 'Your New Politics' initiative - a dossier of information which comes from the mouths of the public and which will be presented to Gordon Brown in the coming months. Your chance to tell the PM how you'd like to participate is here.
