The Snoopers’ Charter: we need a new consultation
The Communications Data Bill – more commonly (and fairly accurately) known as the ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ is due to re-emerge at any moment. We have been expecting it for some time – and yet have seen nothing official, and there has been no sign of a proper public consultation on the subject. That, to me, is [...]
What insiders are saying
With only 17 days left of the ludicrously short consultation period on the future of the probation service, we learn that the minister told Chairs and Chiefs on January 15th “The changes proposed are not ideological – we are listening. We want your ideas.” Well, here we have some further thoughts from Jo Kuipers, Chair [...]
Will the Government rethink its approach to consultation?
“Consultation might not be sexy at the best of times, and has certainly been much maligned, but this debate matters for a (hopefully) functioning democracy.” Michael Harris argues that the Government’s new consultation principles should be developed and drafted publicly in the spirit of open policymaking.
The doctor is out…
I have been following @openpolicy with interest. Probably because I have worked in policy (in the voluntary sector for 15 years) and I am not put off by the title. Could ‘real’ people be interested in the blog posts? I am not sure they would be. Unless we involve ‘real people’ however, we are going [...]
The ordinary people test
These are exceptionally busy days for the new Police & Crime Commissioners. No matter how experienced they were in their previous roles, I am imagine they are all on a very steep learning curve. Moreover, there will be a legion of people wanting some of their time in order to start building long term relationships [...]
Plain speaking
The project led by the Democratic Society on open policy making has been focusing on how to improve the mechanisms we use for consultation. But if we are going to involve and engage more people, we also need to change the words we use to talk about policy. Plain English is mandatory on the new GOV.UK website. The Government Digital Service [...]
We can’t improve consultation without talking about class
Discussions about consultation often focus on methods and means, but of course there’s a broader social context to engagement. Declining trust in political institutions and weakening identification with the mainstream political parties threaten to undermine efforts to engage people in new ways. In short: we need to talk about class. This post is part of [...]
The ‘Red Tape Challenge’ does Health and Social Care
Ermintrude2 considers the arrival of the Government’s Red Tape Challenge in health and social care – and is horrified to discover that the Government seems to consider ‘red tape’ to include protections for people who might be least able to protect their own rights.
Michael Gove’s approach to education reform is the opposite of open policymaking
Education Secretary Michael Gove has unveiled “rigorous selection” tests for trainee teachers in a move he claims will improve the status of the profession and raise standards in the classroom. It’s a pity his own approach to policymaking doesn’t live up to the same standards he’s asking of teachers.
Best of the frontline bloggers (week ending 19th October 2012)
Here’s our selection of the best frontline blogs we’ve read this week – from social care to local government comms. Do send us your suggestions for great posts we’ve missed – and those frontline bloggers we should follow in the future. Social care What I would say to Norman Lamb From Ermintrude2 Posted on 18th October [...]
Consultation can’t fix our broken politics – we need new ways to engage the public in policymaking
Is consultation broken – or is it our political system? Consultation seems to have become the lightening rod for general discontents about politics and policymaking. Let’s improve consultation - but let’s also rethink how we do policy and politics at the same time. In the Open Policy project with the Democratic Society in association with the Cabinet Office, [...]
Open policy is a challenge to government consultations – and an opportunity
More than 40 years ago the American sociologist Sherry Arnstein developed the ‘ladder of participation’ to represent the degree of involvement by citizens in decision-making. Arnstein’s levels range from ‘non-participation’ at the bottom of the ladder – at worse, the manipulation of citizens – to ‘citizen power’ and true citizen control at the top. One of the challenges [...]
How can civil servants make better use of social media?
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been posting on how various bodies – think tanks, commissioners of public services, and trade bodies – can make better use of social media such as Twitter. In this post we consider how civil servants can use social media in their work – and suggest why many of [...]
Why we need a new approach to developing social policy – 9. It’s the future
This is the ninth in a series of posts on why social policy should be developed by and with the people who use and provide public and voluntary services. We’re publishing the last in the series on Monday, and we welcome your comments. According to How Stuff Works, the top five future technology myths are: 5. [...]
Ten reasons why we need a new approach to developing social policy – 2. Policy would stand a better chance of achieving its objectives
This is the second in a series of posts on why social policy should be developed by and with the people who use and provide public and voluntary services. We’ll publish the whole series over the next two weeks, and we welcome your comments. In the policy world we sometimes appear to forget that ‘policy’ doesn’t [...]
Not asking for permission
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, is to act as an unpaid adviser to the UK government to support its “agenda to open up policy-making to the public.” His ideas on how technology could be used to give the public a greater say in policymaking might be very valuable, and government should certainly try to create better platforms for public [...]