INVOLVING DIVERSE GROUPS IN POLICY-MAKING

The text below is general guidance on diverse groups. Specific information about different groups can be accessed from these links-

Children and Young People

Ethnic Minorities

Faith Communities

People with disabilities

Small Business

Voluntary Organisations

It is important that you are able to gain a broad range of views from different groups in society when consulting. You should be aware of the barriers which may affect different people’s ability to contribute and consider ways of overcoming these.

Engaging groups that are currently excluded from public policy

The Scottish Executive has developed guidance to ensure diverse groups are not excluded from public consultation. It identifies diverse groups as including:

Asylum seekers
Disabled people
Gypsies/ travellers
Minority ethnic communities
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups
Older people
People on low incomes
People with specific health issues
People in specific areas (such as rural areas or peripheral estates)
Refugees
Religious/faith groups
Women
Young people

Scottish Executive (2002) Good Practice Guidance: Consultation with Equalities Groups.

Lack of trust is a significant barrier to involving diverse groups in public involvement processes – they may believe that what they say will not be listened to, or lead to change. Some suggestions for dealing with this challenge are outlined below – again, method must match purpose and any approach you select must reflect the characteristics of your target audience.

Understanding your audience

You will need to develop an understanding of your target group and any specific needs the group may have. Ways of doing this include using census information, drawing on previous research or guidance, and talking to the target group directly and/or organisations that represent or work closely with them.

Based on this knowledge, decision-makers will need to respond sensitively and consider what actions need to be taken to enable their involvement. Possible measures include:

• Organising interpreters or signers;
• Running separate meetings for men and women;
• Ensuring venues are fully accessible;
• Making material available in a range of different formats; and
• Asking for people’s views about the best ways to involve them.

Involvement at the early stages of the policy-making process

It is important that diverse groups and individuals are able to contribute at the early stages of the policy making process. Ways of achieving this might be to carry out initial qualitative research or hold discussions with civil society groups in workshops. Allowing people opportunities to identify the problems they face, the changes needed to tackle these and how than can affect change, are means of engaging diverse groups in government decision-making.

Working in partnership

Trust can be fostered by working in partnership with organisations which already have relationships with, and experience

of, specific groups. These might include voluntary and community organisations and public bodies. However, some socially excluded groups may have poor links with such organisations, and some kind of outreach activity might be needed.

There are a number of different roles that external organisations can play in supporting and contributing to government involvement initiatives:

• Taking part formally or informally, drawing on their own knowledge and experience of working with different groups;

• Acting as a source of advice and information about the communities or groups they work with;

• Helping to identify potential participants, as well as advising on how to reach and engage with them effectively;

• Helping with the design of exercises; and

• Delivering training to support these initiatives, for example to both Government staff and potential participants.

Reducing the burden on external organisations

At any one time, civil society groups that represent the views of diverse groups can be asked to take part in many consultations. This puts serious pressure on their time and resources. It is important that departments recognise this and explore ways of minimising the burden placed on them. Wherever possible departments should draw more on existing findings from previous consultation activities (internally or externally), or work with others to undertake broader exercises.

Codes of Practice produced under the Compact on Relations between Government and the voluntary and community sector in England contain useful information on consulting with these groups (see for details: http://www.homeoffice.

gov.uk/comrace/active/volunteering/codes.html).

There was also concern that some organisations and individuals were being over consulted. One proposal for tackling this was that departments should broaden the range of organisations they seek to involve in their consultation processes by, for example, creating and maintaining organisation databases.