Legislate for Deliberative Democracy in order to ensure that: ⚫ diverse voices and communities from all parts of Scotland influence Scottish Parliament’s work ⚫ the public are consistently informed and consulted on local and national issues In drawing up this legislation the Parliament should: ⚫ recognise that there is not one engagement solution that fits all situations and issues ⚫ design and implement a framework based on this panel’s recommendations for ensuring diverse participation in deliberative democracy. The framework should include: ⚫ An annually recurring citizens’ panel with agenda-setting powers to determine which local and national issues require either national or local people’s panels (e.g., ‘deliberative town halls’) ⚫ Protection for participants to improve participation. We do not agree that participation in panels should be mandatory, but protective elements such as the right to time off work should be included for people who are selected to take part. ⚫ Rules around how MSPs consider and respond to recommendations from people’s panels such as mandatory follow-up to people’s panels’ recommendations no later than 9 months and a response from the Parliament and Government ⚫ Potential for mixed MSP–people panels ⚫ Ability to form local panels with local MSPs with outcomes that are sent up to the national level
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation