3 March 2007
Sixty members of the public have visited Downing Street today to continue their contribution to the renewal of public services.
The event concluded a process that has seen 100 people meet in five cities across the country to discuss how they would deal with the difficult questions that ministers and civil servants face every day.
The results will be discussed in a specially extended Cabinet meeting next week and will help inform Government policy.
The individuals were selected by Ipsos MORI, an independent research company, to ensure they reflect a genuine cross section of public opinion.
MORI delivered a presentation at the event based on these slides (pdf, 827kbs)
Similar schemes have already seen the Department of Health and the Department of Work and Pensions use engagement with citizens to improve services.
Speaking in advance of the event, the Prime Minister said:
"Politicians are in the listening business because they end up standing for election, but when they are in government they are also in the deciding business, and that is when life gets more difficult.
"And I think that we do politics a power of good in a way if you are able to have a far more profound dialogue and conversation with people …"
- Watch the PM’s message to delegates
- Read the PM’s message to delegates
- Read Q&A between the PM and the BBC on the Policy Review
Manchester, London, Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds have each hosted "deliberative forums" to identify key themes concerning public services and how the public want them to be improved to meet their needs.
The regional discussions took forward the three core themes which the government identified as those which they wanted to put out to public consultation:
- how to improve customer services in our public services
- how to encourage a culture change to improve local communities
- how to update the relationship between the citizen and the state
Other strands of the review are considering: energy and environment; Britain and the world; economic dynamism; the role of the state; and crime, security and justice.
These reviews will be published from mid-March onwards and will highlight the broad direction of policy for every area of government over the coming period. They will feed into White Papers, government papers, speeches and future legislation.