10 Downing Street Webchats

URL

www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page11249.asp

CASE STUDY OWNER

Office of the Prime Minister

LESSONS LEARNT

Strengths

• Questions could be posed by anyone, and the chats were open to public viewing;
• These webchats all took place on a prominent government website;
• Senior ministers and government representatives took part;
• The webchats were topical and generated the sense of being an ‘event’;
• A range of topics was discussed;
• Webchats were archived for future viewing;
• Users were given direction to further information resources.

Potential for improvement

• The webchat users would have benefited from a greater use of background information to inform participation;
• Users would have been better served by the provision of information about the nature of the policy process surrounding discussion topics, and how people can ‘have their say’ beyond the webchats;
• Users expected a quicker roll out of responses;
• Actual interaction was limited; the webchats would have benefited, for example, from allowing those who had submitted questions to respond to ministerial answers;
• Use of webcams or audio would have increased and sustained participation;
• On a general level, visibility and participation in webchats would be boosted by pre-publicity or by marketing a programme of chats.

OVERVIEW

The Downing Street website was set up to provide the public with information about the role and activities of the Prime Minister (PM).

Gradually the functionality of the site has developed from performing a purely information-provision function, to allowing users to engage in more interactive ways – for example, by taking virtual tours, or submitting and signing petitions. This development has also included the availability of webchats.

POLICY PURPOSE

The Office of the Prime Minister invited senior government ministers and officials to utilise the webchat facility on the Number 10 website.

The webchats have no direct policy impacts. They are used to provide an opportunity for questions to be set by members of the public, and for these to be answered collectively by an appropriate government representative.

Policy areas relating to the work of the participating Minister or senior official are discussed in the webchats. By the close of the Hansard Society evaluation, a range of topics had been covered including employment, identity cards, multiculturalism, the environment and welfare reform.

MODEL

The webchats are held on the 10 Downing Street website

Ministers and senior departmental officials are asked to participate in a webchat by Downing Street staff, who organise and facilitate the events. It is then advertised and members of the public are invited to pre-submit questions, which are moderated by Downing Street staff prior to the webchat.

Anyone is able to participate in and view the webchats. Members of the public who have submitted questions (or simply wish to spectate) are invited to visit the website at a pre-set time to view the answers to submitted questions. A transcript of the chat is archived on the site for reference.

DURATION

The webchats have been held at various times for various durations

Twenty-four webchats have been held to date. Those evaluated in this case study took place in early 2007. We have received feedback for four evaluations of webchats held with Alistair Darling MP, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, James Hall (Chief of the Identity and Passport Service) and David Miliband MP.

PUBLICITY

The webchats are publicised on the 10 Downing Street and on departmental websites.

Press releases containing information about the webchats are sent to trade and mainstream press.

OTHER METHODS

People can contact the Prime Minister’s office and specific departments using conventional routes (email, phone or letter).

Webchat users are occasionally directed to resources where they can find more information about the issues and policies they are interested in.

USER PROFILES

The survey was completed by 36 webchat users.

No demographic data was collected.

Of our respondents, only 40% had taken part in webchats previously. Many had already visited the 10 Downing Street website to find information or sign petitions.

The routes by which participants found out about the webchats suggest that they were already politically engaged – most discovered them through departmental websites or emails from established interest groups.

91% of the respondents were regular users of the internet and accessed it from a combination of places:

USAGE TRENDS

No data available.

USER FEEDBACK

Respondents to the feedback survey spoke of different motivations for participating. Some wanted to observe; others wanted to see if ministerial responses in the webchats would differ from previous pronouncements on the subject matter.
The Downing Street website made clear that the webchats were part of an engagement, rather than consultation exercise. Despite this, many participants hoped to have a policy impact.

After the event, participants said that they appreciated having the chance to interact with a senior representative of government, but felt that they learnt little about the topics that concerned them. The principal reason for this was that there was too little detail in answers and not sufficient interaction. There was a general concern that ministers were only answering ‘easy questions’ and not taking on more challenging lines of questioning.

Despite a degree of dissatisfaction with these particular webchats, most respondents said that they would take part in similar engagement exercises in the future. They also believed that government would benefit from continuing to make such opportunities available, since they provide a means of gauging public opinion. The responses are presented as percentages below:

DETAILED FEEDBACK

The users of these webchats were not been wholly satisfied with the experience. They variously questioned the quality of the webchats, the interactivity and, indeed, if ministers and officials have genuinely participated. The webchats would have perhaps been more accurately described as an opportunity to ‘ask an expert’, rather than a webchat with the ‘real time’, deliberative associations that the term usually carries.

A greater degree of interactivity and debate between the government representative and the public would certainly be well received. If there is a concern about the manageability of a ‘genuine’ webchat, there are moderation processes that can be put in place. Downing Street may also consider using the same format of pre-submitting questions, but then having an independent interviewer there on the day to deliver the questions. This could be delivered using text, but would be more engaging via audio- or video-stream.

Several webchats have been held on the Number 10 website since 1997. However, until recently, their occurrence has been infrequent. In the last year, a significant number of webchats have been held on the site involving high-profile government figures and covering a range of policy areas. It appears that these have piqued the interest of the public – particularly where they have coincided with broader public debate (for example, the DfT webchat took place following the submission of a popular petition on road pricing).

Although the format needs to be developed, as an initial pilot exercise Downing Street should be positive about the webchat experience and confident about the reception of similar activity in the future.

FOLLOW UP

The intention is to continue holding webchats on the 10 Downing Street site and to continue developing online engagement routes.