Approach: Digital Engagement Platform: https://engage.parliament.scot/community/3508 The Your Priorities digital engagement platform was used by the COVID-19 Recovery Committee to enable the public to put forward questions for the Committee to put to Ministers. The Committee received 60 questions from the public. The site was open for submissions for 8 weeks in Autumn 2021 The questions were sorted into themes and included in Committee papers ahead of appearances from Government Ministers and Officials. Members then selected questions or themes to discuss with witnesses in meetings. The Committee raised 25 questions in meetings with ministers and officials, and used other key themes raised by the public to support their questioning. When questions have been raised in a Committee meeting the platform has been used to host videos displaying the questions being answered. This is an innovative way of providing feedback to the public and shows the Committee is actively listening to the views of the public and involving the people of Scotland in their work. An example can be found here: https://engage.parliament.scot/post/60126 Who took part Nearly 1,100 people visited the site, generating 60 questions and 70 ratings (up votes, down votes on questions). The 31 participants who provided a question on the website were given the choice to provide some demographic information to support our evaluation to ensure we reached diverse audiences from across Scotland. 23 people provided demographic information which while a small sample still gives a snap shot of participation. Gender- Men underrepresented: Women 61%; Men 39% Age – Younger people underrepresented: 16-24 0%; 25-39 26%; 40-54 22%; 55-64 30%; 65+ 22% Ethnicity: Black people not represented but representation of Asian and Mixed ethnic groups was achieved: Asian 4.5%; Mixed 4.5%; White 91%. Geographic representation: The process received engagement from people from 16 local authority areas including urban and rural areas and representation of constituencies and regions represented by all members of the Committee. Overcoming the Digital Divide To counteract some of the under-representation noted above, and to ensure a diversity of views, the Participation and Communities Team (PACT) provided support and resources to partners in communities to gather views from those who would usually not engage with the Parliament. As a result, we received questions from young people in the Western Isles with Learning Difficulties; people receiving wellbeing support in Glasgow; and a cancer support service in Ayrshire, amongst others. Whilst the process was never intended to facilitate mass participation from the public, we were satisfied that this engagement exercise reached a diverse range [cross-section?] of the Scottish population, either via use of the Your Priorities site, or via additional support from PACT, SPICe and the Clerks. This was the first time that Committees had tried this method and it was clear that it connected the public directly to the work of Parliament. Evaluation/Feedback Feedback with participants An evaluation survey was sent to participants who provided an email address on the platform. We asked participants to rate a series of statements from 1-5 to give an indication of how they felt the process worked. The mean ratings are outlined below: “I felt informed about the engagement activity and its aims”: 4/5 “I found the Your Priorities engagement platform easy to use”:4.2/5 “"I think the Your Priorities engagement platform is a good way to get involved in the work of the Scottish Parliament.": 3.8/5 “"I am likely to get involved in the work of the Scottish Parliament in the future.":4.4/5 "My views were valued by the committee.": 3.2/5 Participants noted that the process was an “effective way of engaging” and one organisation noted they “enjoyed engaging with the Scottish Parliament and other members of the community this way. It allowed us to share our views publicly and raise awareness of the issues…” that impacted their stakeholders. However, one explanation for the lower rating for “views being valued” came from one participant’s interaction with Scottish Government engagement in the past, stating that while this was a good way to engage, “there also needs to be evidence of a commitment to truly engage. Sadly, the Scottish Government has gained a bit of a bad reputation for "box ticking" consultations”…” in the past. This feedback confirms that Your Priorities provides an innovative way for the public and organisations to engage with the work of the Committee but more needs to be done to set expectations of how public engagement will impact the work of Committees. Evaluation Discussion with Members Members stated that this approach was “good for public engagement and gave the general public a voice in the committee.” They felt that “it is good to look at ways of engaging wider… and this is an enhancement of democracy which should continue.” However, members also commented that the exercise helped to confirm information already received in their constituency correspondence rather than adding new information or enabling the members to “learn something new.” The Committee commented that more could be done to “increase the reach” of the engagement exercise and staff felt that more could be done to target specific audiences in the future if the Committee provided clarity on types of engagement gaps they wished to see prioritised. The Committee agreed to continuing with using this approach in the future, in relation to specific inquiry work. Time constraints meant that it was not possible to ask, and receive answers for, all questions submitted during the Committee meetings. There were around 20 issues/questions still outstanding. The Committee sent a summary of the remaining questions to the Scottish Government. Government provided a detailed response to the remaining questions via a letter from the Deputy First Minister Outputs and Key Lessons Your Priorities provided an innovative way to enable the public to engage with the work of the Committee Your Priorities is easy to use and participants in this exercise indicated they would be likely to participate again in the future It provides a good format for question generation and provides a feedback loop via the use of embedded videos More thought should be given to how to resource promotion of the platform to ensure a wider reach However, a strategy should also be in place to manage large amounts of engagement, and to set expectations that questions may not be selected in Committee sessions, this may help to counteract the feeling that views are not valued by the Committee
Strengths: Great approach – great but need to know it exists – eg what if don’t access online? Digital engagement Solutions Planting seed for public to get involved – engaging with live stuff as it works eg miniter answering questions live Create a video booth in supermarkets – go in and interact with something like this eg help those not accessing at home have support at the booths Touchscreens with info on SP at bus stations, railways etc
Challenges No incentive to use this – why bother Retirement homes – if not accessing digitally then go into those places How does public access if don’t know about it Public views – need them, then go to SP – and then how does that get to that SG – need to explain the step by step process What about vulnerable groups Digital exclusion
Could there be a SP mobile type unit equipped with computers ect which could pick random areas and demographics allowing access to the public to share views, learn, vote ect.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation