The Principles of Good Public Engagement
Involving the public in decision-making can offer key insights and strengthen policy development - but only if it is done right. Our Director of Policy, Dr Olly Scargill, outlines our approach to engaging the hard-to-reach public.
Our motto – our purpose is people – reflects the mission of local government: to serve local people and the places and communities to which they belong. Councils across the country face financial challenges and strains on human resources – but continuing to invest in worthwhile public engagement is vital.
The benefits of public engagement include:
More engaged citizens involved in the democratic process
Better informed decision-making, directly influenced by public opinion
Increased transparency and a stronger defence of potentially controversial decisions.
Yet these benefits will only be realised if the design and delivery of engagement strategies are sound. To do this, NCLG underpins its public engagement work with these core principles.
Define the purpose of the engagement
Before any consultation can begin, there needs to be a clear sense of which audience segments are being consulted and for what purpose. It might be that the audience is a representative sample of all residents, or it might be a particular social group. Whichever it is, there needs to be clear definition given to the audience and the terms of reference.
Cast the net wide
Any engagement activities that do not try to engage those who are least likely to get involved in civic life – those who don’t vote, don’t contact their councillor, or don’t go to residents’ forums – are hard to reach, but it’s important to reach them. This means that the promotion of the engagement activity needs to be multi-channel and it needs to be direct. We do not expect our audience to come to us; we go to them.
Build and promote inclusivity
What might be second nature to those of us in local government will be alien to the people we want to hear from. It’s important that the language we use, the resources we design and the means by which we capture feedback are all inclusive. That means that questions need to be designed for non-experts; that venues for focus groups are within the community; and that nobody is made to feel stupid or unwelcome when voicing an opinion. Removing these barriers is essential to genuine engagement.
Analyse along the way
During the course of the engagement, keep in mind the purpose: what questions, issues or problems are at the heart of the consultation? As the evidence is collected, analyse and reflect upon these findings and begin to paint a picture of the overall findings. If there are clear gaps, or if new questions or lines of enquiry emerge, then build these into the engagement consultation design and continue the process until a rich evidence base allows you to draw meaningful conclusions.