Originally published 20 December 2005. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
Citizens Panels have now come of age, and play an important role in Local Government consultation. They have, however, their detractors. Some claim that once people become members of a panel for a while they cease being a typical or representative member of the public, and their views cannot therefore be extrapolated for the population as a whole. Others find that they prefer to engage with members of the public afresh whenever a new consultation is initiated, and are wary of the professional consultee.
Against this is the undoubted advantage that people who join Citizens Panels are the willing, and consultors are assured of reasonably high response rates and the ability to track the changing perceptions of a defined group over time. As with market research, one of the hardest parts of the exercise is to find an appropriate sample. Citizens Panels should be carefully constructed to reflect the wider population, and panels where anyone can join are, therefore, not strictly panels in this context. Essentially, panels are a form of insurance against the vagaries of idiosyncratic sampling contaminating the quality and compatibility of consultation data.
But panels have even more potential. With the Gershon agenda firmly focusing municipal minds on better co-ordinated consultations, there is much to be gained by jointly sharing a panel. Norfolk has a good example with 7,000 citizens available for 14 public bodies to consult. What is the point of the NHS, Police and local councils, in the same area, all building their own?
There is more. Specific panels for the business sector, for young people, or for voluntary and community bodies, all make sense and can be cost-effective alternatives to the 'lets-ask-everyone' school of consultation.
Major government departments also have opportunities to increase the use of panels for specialist technical issues, and can exploit new technology applications such as e-discussion forums and team-related software. Indeed, e-panels have a big future in all contexts and the best practice rules are now being developed.
True, a few first-generation Citizens Panels are past their best, but the next generation of panels offer everyone a great deal more.
Trigger points
- Take a fresh look at Panels in your local area. Is there scope to collaborate?
- Check if your existing or proposed panels reflect local demographics
- Try to exploit specialist e-panels particularly for the ethnic community and young people.
This is the 29th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement