Participation Unit - Understanding Engagement

DCLG User Empowerment Project (ongoing): We are working with ippr and Involve to understand more fully the current processes of user empowerment, to develop new approaches and to evaluate the impact of these interventions. The project is in two stages. We have completed the initial scoping stage which comprised of desk research. This has now been written into a detailed report and is informing DCLG's planning regarding community engagement mechanisms. The second stage will involve Action Learning Sets with a number of Local Authorities to explore the impact of different approaches in practice. This will provide hard evidence of the impact of different public involvement mechanisms.

Civil Renewal Unit, Home Office (2005-2006): Ipsos MORI were commissioned by the Home Office to conduct a qualitative study exploring the effectiveness of citizen governance activities among Civic Pioneer local authorities. The research adopted a three-stage methodology. In the first stage we hosted an online discussion between the 21 Civic Pioneer authorities about what they felt were the ingredients for successful community engagement. In the second stage we chose six 'case study' areas in which we conducted between 6 and 10 depth-interviews with practitioners (in the local authority and partner organisations), and focus groups with citizens involved through existing council mechanisms. The final stage was an action workshop with key stakeholders including those involved in the case studies, other practitioners and representatives of DCLG and the Home Office. Participants worked together to develop the key ingredients for engagement. This research is feeding into a DCLG review of frameworks for engagement.

English Partnerships (ongoing): Ipsos MORI is currently working with English Partnerships to produce a booklet about community engagement in the planning process. The purpose of the booklet is to set out the business case for involving communities in the planning process and is aimed at English Partnerships staff, planning authorities (particularly elected members and officers), developers and community and voluntary organisations.

In particular the booklet will detail what community engagement is, what the drivers are for doing it, who should be interested and who benefits, the resources and commitment needed, and methodologies for how to go about doing it. It will also include a number of case studies from developments that have demonstrated successful engagement with the community.

Department of Health' — How to involve patients and the public in health and social care (2005): a large-scale review was undertaken in 2005 into patient, user and citizen involvement in the health and social care services as part of the 'Your Health, Your Care, Your Say' consultation. We conducted a number of focus groups, depth interviews and online surveys with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Chairs and Chief Executives of NHS Management bodies, Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forum members, Directors of Social Services and the general public, to understand how arrangements and behaviours can be developed to support a stronger voice for users and citizens. The results of this project fed directly into the 'Have Your Say' Taskforce, which in turn will feed into the forthcoming White Paper on the future of Out of Hospital Care.

Audit Commission (2005): We conducted several discussion groups for the Commission on area profiles to assess the public appetite for information on localities and local services, including quality of life indicators. This involved establishing how, and the extent to which, local residents currently access and then use this sort of information. It looked at the barriers to accessing info such as lack of knowledge, inability to engage with the institutions currently delivering this information, and lack of trust in service providers etc.

Home Office Citizenship Survey Local Area Boost (2003 and 2005): Ipsos MORI conducted this area-based study which complements the national Citizenship survey, and focuses specifically on issues relating to community cohesion and civil renewal. In 2003 the booster comprised 10,000 interviews across 20 case study areas, and in 2005 it comprised 20,000 interviews across 30 case study 'local areas' across England and Wales — revisiting the original areas, and focussing on ten additional areas. The areas comprise a mix in terms local area type and levels of cohesion. The project involved extensive cognitive interviewing in the course of questionnaire development, exploring understanding of the key concepts. As part of the questionnaire development, Ipsos MORI helped devise the national measure of community cohesion. In addition to the main survey work, extensive secondary data was collected, including statistical data, and from depth interviews with local stakeholders in 20 areas in 2005.

DCA and Prime Minister's Strategy Unit — Public Conceptions of Government and governance (2004): This study had three main components' — 1) A grounded understanding through workshops of different publics' reasoning strategies and shifting criteria in making judgements about government. This allowed for opportunities to test emerging ideas and explore different styles of government. Additional focus groups allowed deeper insight into the views of particular audiences; 2) discourse analysis into the way notions of government are constructed by the way society (public, media, politicians, satirists) talks about it. The analysis incorporated the focus group transcripts, media reports, government communications and other sources; and 3) an overarching cultural analysis through semiotic desk research of what "government" and other key concepts have come to mean, by examining their manifestations in public life and therefore the cultural context within which people make decisions.

National Audit Office' — Views about Community Participation Funds (2004): We conducted a large research project to assess the views of representatives of community and voluntary based groups/organisations in deprived areas in England about Community Participation Funds and their affect on neighbourhood renewal. The first stage involved telephone interviews across six case study areas. This was followed by a second qualitative stage which looked at the case study areas in more detail.

Home Office' — Community involvement in local policing (2003): MORI co-hosted a workshop with the Home Office to explore the general public's attitudes towards community involvement in local policing. We recruited people with differing confidence levels in police, and varying levels of interest, and involvement, in local Council decisions and policy.

DCLG, LGA, IDeA and Audit Commission (2002): In the first round of Connecting with Communities work, initial secondary research of Ipsos MORI time-series data was followed by a series of 14 case study visits and residents surveys in a selection of six authorities deemed weaker in external communications. This resulted in several key documents which advised local authorities on how to communicate more effectively with communities. This project demonstrates our ability to develop actionable recommendations and useful reports based on case study evidence. This key project outputs included:

• The business case for communications: a concise review of why investing in communications makes sense, written for leading members and chief executives. Available from the IDeA website.
• The case study evidence (Part 1): a report on the key issues identified from the initial 14 case study authorities, and from local government opinion formers and partners, highlighting areas for action by all authorities. This was made available as both a full report and summary.
• Five years of communications: a detailed report showing what the past five years of Ipsos MORI research highlighted about how local government communicates, and key issues and trends to focus on.
• A web-based Connecting with Communities Toolkit located on the IDeA Knowledge website which offers practical advice and shares best practice among communications practitioners.