Memorandum from the Hansard Society
1. The Hansard Society welcomes the "Putting
People First?" inquiry by the Public Administration Select
Committee. We are particularly encouraged by the Committee's decision
to include inquiry strands on accountability, democratic engagement
and efficacy.
2. The Director of our eDemocracy Programme,
Ross Ferguson, was invited to participate in an evidence session
in Parliament on 8 March 2007. This memorandum is designed as
supplement to contributions made at that session. It is structured
around briefing questions raised by the Clerk of the Committee
in advance of the committee hearing.
3. These sub-questions and the answers here
seek to inform the main threads of the inquiry, particularly:
— Should users be more directly involved
in service delivery? If so, how can this be achieved?
— How does user influence relate to
wider issues of democratic accountability?
What value is there in online engagement?
4. The value in engaging the public online
is broadly the same as engaging the public offline. Engaging the
public increases the efficacy and effectiveness of political institutions
and processes. Providing the public with information and opportunities
to participate may enhance public participation in the political
process.
5. The Hansard Society has carried out an
annual Audit of Political Engagement since 2004. This research
measures the nature and extent of the public's political awareness
and participation. [1]
6. Amongst the data that the Audit reveals
is that 34% are satisfied with the political system in the UK,
but 71% are dissatisfied with their elected representatives. 69%
of people want to play an active part in politics. However, only
39% of people believe that they have the necessary knowledge and
skills to do so, and only 33% think that when people like them
get involved that it has an impact. Only 14% were willing to go
through government or parliamentary routes in order to participate.
And ultimately only 4% had actually acted on that willingness.
7. Information and communications technologies
provide many of the best opportunities to connect citizens to
their representatives and political institutions, potentially
resulting in a less remote system of democratic governance. The
use of online resources presents significant logistical, data
gathering and transparency benefits not always present in conventional,
offline methods. However, based on Hansard Society research, online
methods of engagement are best deployed alongside and in support
of offline methods.
Can online engagement methods encourage awareness
and participation in marginal groups?
8. An advantage of online engagement methods
is that they can reach out beyond professional lobbyists and special
interest groups. However, engaging online is not a guarantee of
participation by marginal groups. Any manager of online engagement
activity must be mindful to carry out targeted promotion in order
to better ensure the participation of a target user base.
9. Case studies from the Digital Dialogues
research, which has been capturing demographic, attitudinal and
behavioural data across a range of central government case studies,
did reveal that a majority of the users were engaging formally
for the first time with the policy process. [2]For
example, in the forums evaluated for Digital Dialogues:
— in the DWP's Welfare Reform Forum,
83% had never participated in a government or parliament consultation
before;
— in the Communities and Local Government
web forum on its local government White Paper 82% participated
in a government consultation for the first time;
— and in the Food Standards Agency
web forum on the regulation of food businesses, 59% took part
in their first consultation.
The sites also drew in a range of age, socio-economic
and ethnicity groups.
10. Whilst these users had a keen interest
in the issues and policies being deliberated, and wanted to engage
with policy-makers, it was the online mechanism to these consultations
that provided them with the spur to act upon their latent interest.
In the main, these users did contribute by any other means to
the consultations.
Should government be investing resources in online
engagement if civil society is already undertaking so many exercises?
11. There will be instances where government
is right to set up a specific site to carry out engagement around
policy or services. This will particularly be the case where government
is learning about online engagement, and whilst the public is
sceptical about government's commitment to engagement. There will
be other instances of where it is a better use of resources to
consult with an established online community using their existing
host-site.
12. Often working with voluntary and community
sector partners can provide a good operational balance. Precedent
already exists where voluntary and community organisations (VCOs)
have provided select committee inquiries with access to their
online forums and established "participant bases". Examples
of this include www.diabetesdialogue.org.uk, where (in 2004 and
2005) the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes worked with
Diabetes UK to create an online community to assess the state
of diabetes care across the UK; and a recent Department of Transport
webchat on road safety, which had support from the Royal Society
for the Prevention of Accidents.
13. Facilitation is required for policy-orientated
deliberation to work well and deliver consensus or usable data,
and in recent years VCOs have taken up the challenge of providing
this service for both Parliament and government. Developing these
partnerships could prove valuable in sending the public a clear
message about the legitimacy of the policy process and do much
to encourage the active citizenship that democracies require to
stay vibrant and progressive.
Should government have an online engagement strategy?
14. Whether government should have an explicit
online engagement strategy or an online stream as part of broader
engagement strategy is unclear. What is apparent is that strategic
direction is lacking in terms of government's current online engagement
activity. A strategy needs to be well-informed and needs to be
flexible and build organically whilst the internet's role in democratic
renewal is settling into a rhythm. Having a strategy, with milestones
and regular evaluation would demonstrate commitment and ensure
that development and procurement are being conducted effectively.
15. There is much in the "Transformational
Government" agenda about increasing the quantity of services
online and doing so more efficiently. Government is already good
at getting information up online and distributing it; but interacting
and engaging with the public online is something the government
finds more difficult. Engagement cannot be done for marketing
purposes, the interaction must be authentic. It means being ready
to encourage criticism, being ready to act upon that criticism,
and accounting for what was done with people's input at the end
of consultation. A strategy relating to the means by which government
will engage users in developing and evaluating services is lacking
and has to come up the "Transformational Government"
agenda.
Should government have an online engagement unit?
16. In relation to technology-led services,
the Government has a dedicated eGovernment Unit, operating under
sponsorship of the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for ensuring
that IT supports better, more efficient, public services. A similar
unit would be useful for sharing learning across departments and
government agencies, for making the process of engagement more
efficient and the evaluation of exercises more systematic. However,
there is risk in asking those who are delivering to also evaluate
themselves. There are existing structures around which a specific
"engagement unit" could be established. Each government
department has teams of consultation coordinators, although experience
and involvement varies. The Department of Constitutional Affairs
also has a Democratic Engagement Branch which has established
a good reputation for capturing and disseminating practice.
Under what circumstances does online engagement
work best? Where is online engagement unnecessary?
17. Digital Dialogues evaluations have demonstrated
that online engagement is suitable for engagement by a range of
agencies and departments around a range of policy areas to connect
with a diverse range of cohorts. The Digital Dialogues exercises
were deliberations about policy. Tying engagement online around
services would appeal to the public and the take up would be a
lot higher where there was a more direct and immediate connection
with outcomes. To tie engagement around services would also make
a clearer, more sustainable business case to government.
18. Parliament is very well placed through
Members to engage the public online. They have the responsibility
and experience to be able to gauge the weight of opinion and prioritise
issues as appropriate. This fits with and enhances our representative
democracy.
19. It is best not to sponsor consultation
where decisions have already been made. Engagement needs to be
authentic. False engagement—consultation for the sake of
persuasion—leads to more disillusionment not less.
Is the personalisation and customisation encouraged
by ICT at odds with the efficiency and effectiveness of public
service delivery?
20. Customisation, personalisation and efficient
data sharing—where the customer is the initiator and has
control of data—has helped successful companies such as
Amazon, Google and Dell become world leaders in their markets.
It is becoming what citizens expect, and lessons from the private
sector are instructive for the delivery of public services. However,
translating eCommerce practices into a democratic context is not
a literal process.
Will an emphasis on deliberative democracy lead
to unsustainable engagement?
21. No; there is no evidence that a more
deliberative democracy or to encourage online engagement is a
slippery slope to direct democracy.
22. The more people who are engaged in politics,
particularly parliamentary processes, the better our democracy
will be. Representative democracy can be enhanced by greater public
involvement in the political process.
Will online engagement be resource hungry and
place to many pressures on politicians and their staff?
23. Digital Dialogues provides a range of
case studies that demonstrated that non-specialist staff, such
as policy officials with limited online engagement experience,
could quickly develop the skills and deliberate effectively with
the public. It also demonstrated that sites could be set up quickly
and cheaply. The case studies and guidance produced in Digital
Dialogues could also help elected representatives develop online
methods with which to engage both their constituents and, if desired,
wider issue-based groups.
March 2007
1 Hansard Society/Electoral Commission, Audit of
Political Engagement 3 (London, 2006) available to dowload
from www.hansardsociety.org.uk Back
2
More information and reports from Digital Dialogues are available
at www.digitaldialogues.org.uk
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