Hazel Blears spent fifteen years of her life standing up at Labour party meetings and saying she was appalled. She’d move resolutions saying she was appalled at this or appalled at that and send them off to committees or conferences. They never seemed to make much difference.
Then along came policy forums, offering a new way of making policy through group discussion among party members, experts and politicians. Hazel was an enthusiast from the start and became a member of the National Policy Forum, helping to form the policies on which Labour won its historic victory in 1997.
But what do ordinary party members feel about policy forums? Do they feel they give them a real say in policy-making? Hazel is now an MP and a minister at the Home Office. Before the last reshuffle she was at the Department of Health and had the job – as a member of the NPF Health Policy Commission – of responding to submissions from local policy forums.
I joined her and two other members of the Health Policy Commission – John Hutton (then a health minister) and a constituency member (and vice chair) of the National Policy Forum, Anne Snelgrove – at a report-back meeting with sixteen members of Blackpool South Labour party who had taken part in a health policy forum last summer.
All three were positive in their responses to the submission from the Blackpool South health policy forum. Hazel said ‘what comes over in your paper is that it’s a Blackpool view. It talks about the health problems created by a massive influx of tourists in the summer, a transient population and a long-hours, low-pay culture. That’s the first time I can remember these points being specifically mentioned.’
Anne said she looked forward to ‘tracking it through’. Her main role was to ensure that the constituencies’ voice was heard on the National Policy Forum. John said the old system of policy-making had involved too few people. Blackpool’s ‘careful and thoughtful’ submission showed the advantages of having a wider range of people and that ‘there’s no substitute for involving rank-and-file members’.
Then the members made their points. Had John visited their local Victoria Hospital? He was ready for that one. ‘Yes, I’ve been to visit it. What a fantastic hospital. It has had an extra £35 million and a new accident and emergency department.’
James Sorah, an ex-railway guard now training to be trade union safety tutor, backed him up. Blackpool also had one of the first NHS walk-in centres in recognition of the special health needs of a town whose population trebles in the holiday season.
‘What about the Care Standards Act?’ said a man in a navy blazer. He was all in favour of fair standards for care homes, but worried about an Act that imposed such heavy burdens on them that some might have to close. In Blackpool, with so many care homes, it was a big issue. ‘It’s been wonderful ammunition for the Tories. We’ll lose council seats over it,’ warned Jack Borrino, a retired aircraft engineer who has been a member for over ten years.
‘I’ll have to own up,’ said John. ‘I’m the minister who did the care home legislation and it may be that we didn’t get it quite right first time.’ Because of these difficulties he had tabled amendments to bring some of the environmental standards into force at a later date.
After the session I spoke to James Sorah and Jack Borrino about what they thought of the policy forum process. They felt reassured that the ministers were not only listening to them, but also taking account of what they said and using the information in the policy-making process.
‘We don’t expect to be able to tell ministers what to do, because for ministers there are always conflicting priorities; but I don’t feel that everything we say is ignored. I feel we’re an effective part of the lobby,’ says James.