Communities and Local Government Forum

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Method(s) Used

Area Forums (Methods)

Name of person who posted the project:

Kerry Ryan

Location of project:

United Kingdom

Date when the project started:

2005

Date when the project ended/project ongoing:

Background to project:

Communities and Local Government was created on May 5, 2006, to promote community cohesion and equality. It also has responsibility for housing, urban regeneration, planning and local government.
It unites the communities and civil renewal functions previously undertaken by the Home Office, with responsibility for regeneration, neighbourhood renewal and local government previously held by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Communities and Local Government also has responsibility for equality policy, including policy on race, faith, gender and sexual orientation. These functions were previously split between several government departments.

Purpose of project:

The online discussion forum was set up to enable those with an interest in local government to discuss a number of related issues, to respond to set consultations and to exchange ideas about best practice amongst peers.
Initially launched as the ï¿½local:visionï¿½ forum, the site was set up for those with an interest in the Local Government White Paper. This phase of the site was evaluated up to June 2, 2006 (a full evaluation can be found in the Digital Dialogues Interim Report).
The forum was relaunched in July 2006 to incorporate discussions on a broader range of departmental policies. These have included:

Core Cities, Smaller Cities and Larger Towns;
New Firefightersï¿½ Pension Scheme ï¿½ options and implementation;
Sites for Gypsies and Travellers;
Achieving Building Standards;
New Look Local Government Pension Scheme;
City Development Companies;
Local Government White Paper ï¿½ Implementation;
Commission on the role of local councillors;
Cave Review of Social Housing Regulation;
Commission on Integration and Cohesion;
Future of the 2008 Fire and Rescue Service National Framework.

Project activities:

Online deliberative forum.
The policy areas directly impact on England and Wales. However, access and participation was not restricted to England and Wales. The forum was readable by anyone but registration was required to contribute.
The forum was pre-moderated by Communities and Local Government policy staff.
Representatives from policy teams logged into relevant areas of the forum to promote deliberation, respond to queries and to summarise discussions.
PUBLICITY
The forum was publicised on the Communities and Local Government website, www.info4local.com and in local government newsletters and email alerts.
Each forum topic received its own promotion: some of the policy staff promoted their forum topics by incorporating links in their email signatures; in some cases, ministers promoted the forum topic that related to their consultation in speeches and at public appearances.
There was no paid-for marketing.

Project results:

Strengths

This forum generated a (comparatively) large number of registrants and repeat visitors;
There was a clear delineation of responsibilities between communications, policy and web teams for the forum;
Active and visible linking between the departmentï¿½s various websites (blogs, corporate sites, forum, webchats) and offline channels made good use of audiences and participant bases;
The range of discussion themes reflected the policy areas of the department;
Forum was used to consult at various stages of the policy cycle, and users were given opportunities to respond to reports and revisit discussions.

Potential for improvement

Moderators could have intervened more often as facilitators to maintain momentum in deliberation between peers;
Measures to discourage participants from referencing and pursuing localised disputes, as these are isolating to others;
There was inconsistent marketing from one forum topic to the next.

Contact details:

http://forum.communities.gov.uk

Source: 'Digital Dialogues Second Phase report - Hansard Society/Ministry of Justice 2007

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