Originally published 4 March 2008. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
No, this is not a celebration of Bruce Forsyth’s 80th birthday, but recognition that doing justice to opposite ends of the age spectrum is a challenge for many organisations.
The coincidence of our programme planning in the Institute this spring has resulted in a Seminar/Workshop in Cardiff on consultation with children and young people, followed by another in Glasgow a week later on consulting the older generations. It gave us an opportunity to review current best practice in both areas and to seek to draw conclusions from them.
Here are five things they both have in common:- • Both – for different reasons – are the focus of comprehensive public service re-engineering, with varying degrees of commitment towards involving those who will use such services
• In theory, both are represented by a large number of voluntary and community bodies; in practice these are often biased towards the white, middle-class articulate sectors of society; a substantial seldom-heard segment persists • Neither group responds well to the conventional or more traditional consultation methods • There is heavy reliance on permanent consultation machinery and the use of established forums or committees to discuss matters of importance • Carers, or those in loco parentis have a long tradition of speaking up for these groups, but many older or younger consultees disagree on key issues and resent the extent of their influence
But there are differences, some of them quite subtle... • Public participation patterns are changing; older people are more likely to vote, read the local newspaper and may have been more active in civic society. Many young people, especially those who are NEET (Not in Education & Training) take little part in such activities and opt out of many social interactions. This affects their propensity to respond to consultation. • Older people naturally have a foreshortened time horizon, and need to see early results from public engagement exercises • Many young people are significantly inhibited by the formality of much consultation, but respond favourably to more participative methods and to some e-consultation techniques • By drawing upon a wider range of life experiences, older people will often express a more balanced view of a subject; young people are as ever, iconoclastic, un-deferential and opinionated - ignorance of the subject seldom worries them!
The way that many public bodies are organised compounds the problem. Those who work with young people learn how to hold dialogues with them; ditto with older people. They generally empathise with them. They certainly hear them. But for many decision-makers, staff who work with these groups are perceived to have “gone native”, or are seen as perennially campaigning for more money or facilities on behalf of their particular client group.
What we need is for those who are responsible for public engagement right across the board to be able to listen to both ends of the age spectrum ...... and also listen to other important stakeholder groups – business people, families, single adults, migrants etc. and to become expert at distilling key messages from each of them and applying them sensibly to the issues under debate. For this to happen, specialist staff in children’s services, or those commissioning or delivering older people’s services, need to sit down with specialist consultation co-ordinators so that they can together find better ways of listening to these often-neglected voices.
Trigger points
- Consider how often and how well your organisation seeks the views of these groups.
- Are you making the best use of any permanent consultation machinery; is it representative enough to meet the requirements of the forthcoming S.138 Duty to involve?
This is the 105th 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