DCLG Towns Cities and Regions Webchat
Title/URL
The transcript of the 18 May Cities webchat with Phil Woolas, Minister for Local Government, has been published on the DCLG website –
18 May webchat transcript.
The transcript of the 25 May Cities webchat with Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has been published on the DCLG website – 25 May webchat transcript.
Screenshot
Department
Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
Objective/Context
Part of the DCLG’s work on Towns, Cities and Regions policy is seeking to raise the economic performance of the UK’s cities. To do this the DCLG wanted to find out what the visions of cities and towns are, what assets they already have, what the barriers to growth exist and what government can do to help to remove them.
In May 2005, DCLG ministers took part in a series of summits around England in smaller cities and larger towns where they met with local authority leaders and councillors to discuss the economic performance of these cities. However, there were regions that they were unable to visit due to resource and time restrictions. Real-time webchats were held to facilitate dialogue between the Minister for Local Government and the Secretary of State in those areas where live summits were not possible.
Policy Overview
Urban Policy – the Future of Towns, Cities and Regions
DCLG’s Urban Policy is about creating better towns and cities in England with:
- healthy economies;
- well-designed homes;
- better public services;
- attractive and safe environments.
The 2000 white paper ‘Our Towns and Cities: the Future’ sought to usher in a ‘sustained urban renaissance across the country’. To make this happen the DCLG works in partnership with:
- government at all levels;
- local communities;
- the voluntary sector;
- businesses.
Urban Policy is an important part of the department’s sustainable communities agenda – improving the construction and design of buildings, ensuring that regeneration and redevelopment benefits everyone in the community, and developing the skills that are needed to ensure this happens.
Application used
Real-time webchat based on blog/instant messaging hybrid (third-party build and hosted on external servers).
The webchats were readable by anyone, but registration was required to contribute and restricted to specific local authority leaders and councillors.
Purpose
Deliberative consultation – to obtain experiential feedback on policy analysis and decisions.
Other consultation methods used
Stakeholder meetings; submission by email, post or telephone.
Moderation
The webchats ran on a ‘question and answer’ format. The webchats were real-time but the moderation meant that the participants’ initial questions took up to a minute to appear. The moderation was carried out by the Hansard Society on behalf of the department
If the initial question met the terms and conditions of the site it was moved from the moderation queue to a pending list, where it was available for everyone to read. When the minister was ready to answer the question it was ‘activated’ (appearing in the ‘Active Q&A’ list).
Once the minister responded to the question, the participant could then post further unmoderated comments. The minister was also able to post again and could spread responses across discussions. Only the minister and the participant who asked the question were able to add further comments to the original question, but anyone could read the question and its responses.
Catchment
The policy directly affects England. Participation was restricted to specific local authorities. However, read-access was not restricted.
Timeline
The webchat with Phil Woolas, Minister for Local Government, took place for just over one hour on 18 May 2006.
The webchat with Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, took place for just over one hour on 25 May 2006.
The evaluation of the webchats took place in the month following the webchats and closed by 9 June 2006.
Registrant profiles
35 local authority leaders and councillors.
Gender
Male 29
Female 6
First webchat?
Yes 34
No 1
Publicity
The department sent out invite letters and emails to those it wished to participate in the webchats.
There was no ‘paid for’ or media-based marketing undertaken.
Participation rate
Participants and ministers took part in 38 separate discussions, posting a total of 93 questions and responses.
Distinct Features
Strengths
- Real-time interaction;
- No need of download or installation of software on users’ computer or network (with this software);
- Structured discussion;
- Speed of moderation process;
- Ministers could participate in more than one webchat simultaneously;
- Control over closed/open registration and/or participation;
- Policy support team held practice sessions and were familiar with the platform and its interface in advance of the events;
- Range of topics discussed in short timeframe;
- Sense of webchat being an event;
- Ability to quickly transcript discussions;
- Transcripts archived on webchat and corporate departmental site;
- Webchats used to complement rather than replace direct stakeholder meetings;
- Active referencing and visible linking between the departmental web-based (blogs, corporate sites, forum, webchats) and offline channels making good use of audiences and participant bases;
- Numbers of civil servants required to support ministers’ participation was under half that for equivalent offline summits.
Potential for improvement
- Participants unfamiliarity with platform;
- Ministers’ unfamiliarity with webchat dynamic and platform;
- Increased familiarity with platform will enable the department to reduce ministerial support team even further;
- Time allotted insufficient for participant demand.
There was a slight apprehension amongst the policy team supporting the chat due to the unfamiliarity of the technology. This made the process of organising the exercise tense at times. However, a practice simulation within the department greatly helped and showed its benefit when the actual chats took place.
Overall, these two ministerial webchats proved successful. The real-time nature of the chats provided a useful complement to a series of ‘offline’ summits that took place around England earlier in the month. Where ministerial time is at a premium this relieved pressure on logistical resources, while ensuring that key stakeholders were not excluded.
Participant feedback
Participants provided little depth in their feedback, but appeared to appreciate the opportunity to exchange views directly with a minister.
A few participants experienced technical difficulties caused largely by unfamiliarity with the webchat platform.
Departmental feedback
Despite being keen on the concept of a ministerial webchat to complement face-to-face meetings with stakeholders, the support staff involved from the policy team were apprehensive. They were unfamiliar with the technology and concerned about their ability to manage the discussions that would take place. Finally, the team was anxious that the site would not be able to accommodate the needs of the minister on the day.
To reassure those involved in staffing the webchat on the government side, simulations were organized by the Hansard Society. Staff played the part of moderators, support staff, participants and the minister. This proved its value on the days when the real webchats took place. The events went smoothly, the minister enjoyed the experience, and the team was pleased by the participant turnout and surprised by the breadth of topics covered.
The department reported that in future it would have liked to do more briefing with the participants and ministers ahead of the webchats, benefiting the events by bringing more detail into the discussions. In response to queries about the staffing required to support the chats, the department said that this was necessary cover because of the breadth of subject matter and their relative inexperience with the format. It was pointed out that each of the [offline] summits required more than 10 civil servants to coordinate, so by comparison the chats were less resource dependent.
Outcomes
Based on this engagement process of which the webchats were a part, the department will be developing a generic menu of enabling measures from which local authorities can choose options as part of their Local Authority Agreement negotiations. The aim is to publish this menu in the autumn of 2006.
The department expressed an interest in running webchats in the future and investing in technology to facilitate online consultation.
