Originally published 20 November 2007. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
It might be easy to dismiss much of the Government’s flashy new “empowerment” agenda1 as yet more spin. But, despite being open to criticism, there are some really significant positives in what is now proposed.
First, a criticism - we have yet another piece of terminology. We could not find “Empowerment” anywhere in the new Act2 (Consultation appears 41 times!), and as it is hardly a new term, we are likely to find that everyone will have their own distinctive interpretation of the word. Second, there is a danger that by being all-encompassing, everything but the kitchen-sink has been thrown into the soup. The Action Plan therefore boasts 23 different items - and it’s quite difficult to grasp the distinction between, say, what the National Empowerment Partnership is meant to do compared with what’s expected from the Network of Empowering Authorities! Then there is the mixture of solid, approved and in cases, legislative measures with the somewhat woollier, speculative yet-might-happen initiatives, such as what may emerge from the Councillor’s Commission in the coming weeks. The Action Plan relies to an extent upon six separate forthcoming consultations on various aspects. No wonder critics see public engagement professionals as mice undertaking a never-ending journey on the bureaucratic treadmill.
Yet that is being too negative for, at heart, this is a move which is surely pointing in the right, not the wrong, direction. Quite possibly, senior politicians (of all parties) may have detected sources of alienation which officials fail to identify and tackle. Few disagree with the notion of helping people become more involved, and if this latest programme helps to raise awareness of the many ways in which citizens can participate, it will do good.
In particular, we see benefit in three key areas:-
Ø Involving the users (or potential users) of services in their design and deployment is long overdue. A lot already occurs informally, but is patchy and too dependent upon a few purposeful individuals. The Act tries to make this a universal practice, so that it is unthinkable for those who commission public services to omit this important stage. Watch for the forthcoming statutory guidance on the duty to inform, consult and involve! Watch also for the new requirement on NHS service commissioners to consult properly. Ø The duty to co-operate means that “named partners” must work together on Local Area Agreements and, for this to succeed, there will have to greater transparency and involvement. It also means that elected members will need to look beyond their traditional areas of concern and become engaged with much wider aspects of place shaping. Ø Of the many good ideas promoted in the Agenda, few are as potentially powerful as Community Kitties or participatory budgeting. It has its limitations – but has one overwhelming attraction in that it deals with real money, and real decisions about spending real money. Whereas people are bored by talking-shops, they respond positively when money is involved.
Without a massive skills-transfer programme, few public bodies have enough people to do much more than tackle these three challenges. And, here’s the rub - might it not be better to do four or five things properly than to embark upon dozens of actions, not one of which receives wholehearted commitment?
This Agenda takes the broader – and more ambitious approach. Good luck to them. Let’s just hope it’s maintained for long enough to make a difference.
1See “An Action Plan for Community Empowerment: Building on Success”. A joint action plan for the Communities & Local Government department and the Local Government Association. 2The Local Government & Public Involvement in Health Act 2007
Trigger points
- Read the Agenda, and decide which of the 23 Actions are most relevant to your organisation
- Select two or three of the supported initiatives and consciously skill-up to implement them; approach “named partners” to seek agreement on a common training investment
- Try to win over elected members (or Board members outside Local authorities) to the overall concept of “empowerment”
This is the98th 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