Originally published 6 November 2007. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
Many newspapers and even parts of the BBC seem to have decided for themselves that 10 Downing Street’s recent experiments with public participation are nothing but a set of PR gimmicks designed to enliven Tony Blair’s forthcoming departure. But insofar as they represent the application of established forms of civic public participation, albeit in a new central government context, they deserve a little more serious examination
Petitions aren’t new, but the electronic version seems to have captured public imagination. This week there are 3,381 petitions available for signature on the 10 Downing Street website; over 2 million people have signed one or more petitions. At a time when many public sector organisations struggle to engage with people, this is an impressive show of willingness to participate. Is it consultation? Only just. There is very little dialogue, except that the sheer scale of the road pricing petition obliged the PM to publish an interesting response and to encourage signatories to continue discussions through other consultation channels. Single petitions can illustrate the extent of support for various ideas, be they realistic, unrealistic ….. or mad.
Petition websites can tell us rather more. Look at the following table – it’s only a very top-level analysis, but interesting nonetheless. It reveals the subjects upon which people feel strongly, and are willing to sign up to; deeper analysis can help distinguish between the various propositions.
Category Open Petitions Petition with most signatures (4.3.2007) Transport ........................................................683 Speed Cameras...........................15,861 Government, Politics & Public Administration.....539 N Ireland Water Charges..............10,512 Health, Wellbeing & Care..................................519 Guildford Hospital.........................20,300 Public Order, Justice & Right............................488 Photography in public places ...... 49,117 Environment....................................................335 Hunting Act ............................... 34,664 Education & Skills...........................................247 British Library ............................ 12,230 Leisure & Culture.............................................219 Bob Paisley Knighthood ............. 26,869 Economy & Finance........................................208 Inheritance Tax ....................... 106,363 Life in the Community......................................183 Licensing of music/drama .......... 37,163 Housing..........................................................150 Home Information Packs .............. 7,329 Employment, Jobs & Careers...........................133 Highly-skilled Migrant Doctors ..... 2,322 Business & Industry .......................................106 Professional status for engineers 17,207 People & Organisation.....................................104 Docking dog tails ....................... 2,285 Information & Communication............................86 Telephone numbers ................... 28,142 Science, Technology & Innovation......................42 Red Arrows ............................. 45,280 And various they are! In fact, all human life is there, in an infuriating kaleidoscope of the uninformed, humorous, pedantic, far-fetched or frankly genius. It just makes you want to round up 50 or 60 of them, put them in a room and see if they can agree on anything. Or at the very least, hear them debate the kinds of dilemmas which our decision-makers wrestle with …....which is, of course, precisely what Ipsos-MORI did in Number 10 last Friday! What we have here, therefore, is a mechanism for agenda-setting, (petitions) and a choice of mechanisms (panels, focus groups etc) to try to understand why people support some causes and not others. Ruth Kelly’s Local Government White Paper already proposes greater use of petitions, and if Councils and other public bodies accept their agenda-setting value – with all their limitations, they could yet be useful.
But in the same way that No10’s efforts will be dismissed as propaganda unless they lead to more substantial dialogues, our Town Halls must also invest in effective follow-up initiatives so that citizens’ apparent willingness to become involved can be put to better effect. Trigger points
- Anticipate the implications of the Local Government White Paper; look at ways to harness the popularity of petitions
- Look at IT options for petitions; the No 10 website is not the only model
- Invest in facilitation and moderation skills so that real dialogue can follow after petitioners identify the issues and consider attending the Institute's Effective Focus Groups course on 11th April in London or 6th June in Birmingham. Further details on our website
This is the 80th 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