The problem of falling interest and trust in political institutions and processes has led all those involved in traditional forms of politics to take stock. Diverse initiatives such as the Big Conversation, citizen input into foundation hospitals and the development of the Active Citizen Centre in the Home Office demonstrate the government’s keenness to tackle disengagement by reaching out directly to citizens with an active interest in their local communities. This new approach is important and timely, but must be part of a larger re-evaluation of our parliamentary democracy – notably thorough an effective reform of parliament.
The Hansard Society is currently undertaking a project that is looking at ways that parliament as an institution can improve its contact and communication with the public. The Connecting Communities with Parliament project is based on the premise that parliament is, ultimately, the central core of our democratic system and it is therefore imperative that citizens feel connected to it. While political parties, government departments and local institutions are adapting to the changing world, parliament has struggled to do the same. This project aims to offer practical solutions to parliament on how it can achieve this, and comes direct from the people.
Connecting Communities involves bringing groups of citizens who are active in their local community to Westminster, showing them a variety of parliamentary activities and offering educational material to support their understanding of parliament and national politics in order to highlight how it relates to their lives. Participants then give detailed feedback on their perceptions of parliament and suggest improvements that they believe would stimulate greater public interest in what goes on at Westminster. The project therefore combines finding ways of giving people the tools to play an active role in national decision making between elections and showing parliament how to reach out to members of the public in a more effective way.
Evaluations sessions cover a range of topics, such as how participants responded to the parliamentary buildings, the proceedings they watched, their background knowledge about parliamentary activities and the ways in which politics is communicated to them. The meetings have produced some interesting findings, which range from the superficial to the fundamental, and show the great distance that parliament has to travel in order to appear relevant and effective. However, encouragingly, the project has also shown that people are interested in learning more about how decisions are made and how they can contribute to the process.
Thus far, the participant evaluations have returned some interesting findings. Many members of the public feel alienated and bemused by some of parliament’s more obscure procedures and use of language. Those in parliament must weigh up the need to maintain tradition and a sense of occasion with the problems of a disengaged public who are ‘turned off’ by these procedures. Additional access to resources that explain the processes of parliament would aid in this as well. Most people admit to having very little knowledge about how their parliament works and do not know where to find introductory-level information.
Participants also suggested parliament put more effort into planning and publicising upcoming work, such as select committees hearings, and debates, this could be achieved through more innovative methods, such as email bulletins to relevant membership organisations (who could forward on to all members), posting on government departmental websites or by notifying trade magazines.
On the whole, parliament was not considered to be very accessible or welcoming. Simple measures would make a big difference, such as a welcome greeting, a clear display of the day’s activities in language that does not require a prior understanding of parliament, or proper signposting.
While participants acknowledged that well intended attempts have been made to open parliament up to the public, the overwhelming sense was that these attempts have not been sufficiently thought through. Effective parliamentary reform must be seen as a priority for MPs, the government, and the parliamentary authorities. It is not acceptable to suggest that declining public interest in politics is inevitable; a concerted and honest effort must be made to reverse this trend.
The participants in the Connecting Communities project are precisely the sort of people who ought to be more engaged in the work of parliament. They are often community activists who have a wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise in a variety of fields. They have a great deal to offer both parliament and government, yet they are, for the most part, disengaged from the parliamentary process.
The reasons for their disengagement are complex and numerous. However, at least in part, it stems from the failure of parliament to open up and reach out effectively to members of the public. Overcoming that problem is a daunting task that will require courage and conviction. It will not be achieved overnight. But the need to actively and consistently develop new ways to challenge this problem, from both inside and outside parliament, is becoming impossible to ignore.