End of Commitment Report – Increasing Participatory Democracy – Developing Citizens’ Panels across Glasgow

Name of Evaluator

Pamela Rennie

Email

Pamela.Rennie@glasgow.gov.uk

Member Name

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2021 – 2023

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Increasing Participatory Democracy – Developing Citizens’ Panels across Glasgow

Action

This commitment will explore options for implementing co-developed Citizens’ Panels in Glasgow, learning from existing participatory processes in the city, and with our partners through the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More. Any implementation of Citizens’ Panels will have an overall aim of increasing participatory democracy and demonstrating the influence of local people’s input on the allocation of local resources and citizen-led service redesign. Glasgow has an aspiration to significantly increase participatory democracy processes with our citizens, having made incremental steps over a long period of time and using a variety of methods. As our work in the OGP develops we are keen to learn from others, test various approaches and measure the impact of each, and implement the approach that will work best for the citizens of Glasgow. Co-creating the panels with citizens is vital; citizens will be involved from the earliest possible opportunity in the development stage. This current proposal builds on the evaluation findings.  It extends participation to all local decisions about spend and services and establishes panels as a permanent feature of local governance.

Problem

Citizens in Glasgow want to have an increased role in decision-making across the city, particularly in local decisions. Glasgow City Council Household Survey 2019 indicated that citizens have a willingness to be involved in decision-making affecting their areas, but felt they were not able to have their views considered. Meaningful working relationships between public agencies and citizens must be improved to achieve the aim of devolving decision-making, and citizens’ panels could be an ideal platform to build trust, allow for an open sharing of views, and lead to local service provision, service design, public sector spending, and local decision-making being a truly participatory process.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Substantial

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

While reviewing Glasgow Community Planning Partnership’s decision-making structures of Area Partnerships, and exploring our commitment to participatory democracy, our Centre for Civic Innovation has tested new methods to inform a future approach which works best for the citizens of Glasgow. Our work programme has researched and piloted interventions to develop a participatory model including Citizen Power research, Collaborative Futures projects, and Including Young People’s Voices.

Within our commitment to exploring Citizens’ Panels, our programme has focussed on making local decisions on the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Improvement Fund as a model for participation in local neighbourhoods, with testing and learning in 2 pilot areas of Calton and Greater Pollok – a participatory decision-making system for citizens in Glasgow to decide how £23m is spent in the city, to ensure that the views and ideas of as many citizens as possible can be included when Area Partnerships make decisions.

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

Several internal factors impacted the implementation of this commitment, including:

• A clear definition of how the Citizens’ Panel would work in practice, and consideration of how they would fit within the current model of citywide and local decision-making.
• Consideration and understanding of how Citizens’ Panels would be administered.
• Availability of resources for exploring implementation of Panels including both staff capacity and capability.
• Working across Council Departments, Community Councils, Area Partnership structures, local organisations, and local people with Calton and Greater Pollok to bring together community engagement and participation expertise, experience, and resources to co-design systems and methods.
• A change to the focus of our participatory democracy commitment, from exploring the implementation of Citizens’ Panels to co-designing a system which allows Area Partnerships to make decisions on how the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Improvement Fund is spent based on the opinions of as many local citizens as possible. This was agreed by Glasgow Community Planning Partnership and Glasgow City Council, and our Centre for Civic Innovation agreed to co-design and prototype this system in 2 pilot areas of the city (the Greater Pollok and Calton wards).

This has subsequently impacted the Commitment timescales – with a revised timeline for development and testing provided for Glasgow Community Planning Partnership and Glasgow City Council.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

Few of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The underlying aims and objectives of the commitment to increase participatory democracy have been implemented and are in progress, however, we have taken a different approach than the one originally proposed. Our programme is currently focussed on co-designing a system that allows Area Partnerships to make decisions based on the opinions of as many local citizens as possible, as opposed to Citizens’ Panels.
After the initial research stage, we moved to developing a system of engaging local communities on a live issue – making local decisions on the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Improvement Fund, with design and testing in the Greater Pollok and Calton wards of the City. Our Centre for Civic Innovation has been working with colleagues from across the Council family and with local people in the pilot areas to develop a system that will be capable of engaging a wide range of citizens.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

In late March and early April 2023, a series of workshops were held with a range of stakeholders, namely: (a) local citizens in pilot areas of Calton and Greater Pollok; (b) the Calton and Greater Pollok Area Partnerships and local partners; (c) council family partners (Glasgow Life, Community Empowerment Services, NRS, Health and Social Care Partnership) and other citywide partners.
The purpose of these workshops was to test the emerging engagement system to understand what would work for citizens, the Area Partnerships, and partners with a role or interest in engaging communities. Specifically, to understand how best to engage with citizens in terms of the type of materials used, the methods of engagement, where and when is best to engage, and a format and language that is accessible and easy to understand. For Area Partnerships, the purpose was to understand how information (options, proposals, etc) should be presented to allow informed decision-making in a format that is accessible to all members.

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

A review of Glasgow Community Planning Partnership structures – the 23 Area Partnerships and 3 Sector Partnerships which allow for community organisations to be part of the decision-making process for a variety of services and projects delivered by City partners – has been undertaken with recommendations to be taken forward, including to consider the future role for Citizens’ Panels. The implementation of Citizens’ Panels aimed to increase participatory democracy and demonstrate the influence of local people’s input on the allocation of local resources and citizen-led service redesign.

In September 2021, following extensive engagement within the Review, Elected Members approved a new model and principles for Area Partnerships. The new model would create the conditions for effective community participation in Community Planning in Glasgow and provide partners and communities with a means of engaging better with a view to facilitating more responsive local services and resource allocation. The model also provides a mechanism for the rollout of participatory democracy through Citizens’ Panels to create a platform to hear local voices; celebrate the things we are good at and find opportunities for positive change; deliver a true transfer of power to local people enabling decision-making with impact; create an informal, accessible and transparent model using creative approaches; ensure wider inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More, better representation and more people are involved; and better understand local priorities and what people want and need. It was recommended that the new model be introduced in a phased approach, with 2 Citizens’ Panels developed and piloted by November 2022, with a second test and learn phase in January 2023. The two pilot areas were Calton (North East Sector) and Greater Pollok (South Sector).

The Centre for Civic Innovation co-designed the system and the methods during 20 creative workshop sessions involving over 200 people including council staff, community councils throughout the city, local organizations, local people in Calton and Greater Pollok, and Area Partnerships structures.

We co-designed a prototype system for participation with more than 200 people – 219 people, 92 citizens, 21 area partnership members, 15 community councilors, 24 equalities citywide partners, 30 key community organisations, 34 community empowerment, and council family staff.
During both phases of the pilot, the team reached 2% of the people living in Greater Pollok (over 600 people) in only 3 weeks. During the second phase, votes in Calton tripled. In total, this process generated over 600 new ideas, 950 final votes, and 41 new ideas going ahead to be funded.

Our pilots in Greater Pollok and Calton have tested a new approach for Area Partnerships to encourage views and inputs from all sections of the community, and demonstrated the influence of local people’s priorities and decisions in the allocation of local resources, in this case, the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Ultimately the citizen engagement model that is being developed should be capable of being adapted for use on a range of issues by partners across the Community Planning Partnership, with final recommendations being made on a citizen engagement model that can be rolled out across the City of Glasgow.

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Not Applicable

2.1.4 Other Results

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Our citizen power work programme has researched and piloted interventions to inform our participatory model including:

Citizen Power Research – extensive research piece to establish key foundations for citizen power work (hearing local voices, transferring power, enabling wider inclusion and better representation, using creative and transparent methods).

Including Young People Voices – in partnership with the Village Storytelling Centre explored and facilitated the inclusion of young people in community development and service design in Greater Pollok using applied storytelling and design-led approaches.

Collaborative Future Projects – in partnership with the Glasgow School of Art, this project moved into futures and collaborative design to develop dynamic ways of engaging and envisioning the future with communities and stakeholders. The 2022 Collaborative Futures Project focussed on Open Government – Open Citizenship and Data Experiences in Glasgow 2032.

This work programme led to Glasgow winning an Open Government Award 2023.

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Partially – citizens want an increased role in decision-making across the city, particularly in local decisions. Our Centre for Civic Innovation has undertaken work to research and test any future model for increasing participatory democracy and ensuring Area Partnerships represent wider local communities and have mechanisms to reach deeper into communities on specific issues to hear local priorities and involve more people in decisions on spending and local service provision. The experience gained in research and testing has seen local people influence and take decisions on the Neighbourhood Infrastructure Investment Fund, achieving better representation and involvement. However, this is a journey to achieve participatory models and processes which create the conditions for effective community participation and decision-making in Glasgow. We have built capacity, increased participation, and understanding of structure but more is required to deliver participatory democracy and change.

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

We have used a design-led approach to test ways of working for Area Partnerships to create the conditions for effective community participation. There is significant value in this commitment. On reflection we need to consider the medium and long-term approach, creating the systems, structures, and environment which will allow the Council and Community Planning Partnership to work differently: more local, more targeted, and more collaborative. We have shown that this will take change, commitment, time, and resources.
Any future commitment to increasing participatory democracy should:

• Develop a consistent approach to engagement and collaboration between local neighbourhoods and the Council, using existing resources.
• Acknowledge the time to set up systems correctly, allow time to engage with citizens meaningfully, establish lasting connections with local organisations, and invest in capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac....
• Consider how the new Area Partnership model and ways of working can create the conditions for effective community participation in Community Planning in Glasgow and decision-making based on the opinions of local citizens.

Our Review of Area Partnerships sought a model which provides a mechanism for the rollout of participatory democracy to: create a platform to hear local voices; celebrate the things we are good at find opportunities for positive change; deliver a true transfer of power to local people enabling decision-making with impact; create an informal, accessible and transparent model using creative approaches; ensure wider inclusion, better representation and more people are involved. Having researched and tested (with two further pilots agreed upon for January to September 2024) and concluded an internal review of Community Empowerment Services in the Council, the focus should now return to a strategic vision for local models to improve representation, increase participation, and better empower and devolve decision making in neighbourhoods.