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8/8/2019 Making the Connections
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Making the Connections citizens mapping the big picture
Greg Parstonand Ilona Cowe
Public Management Foundation
July 1998
third in the annual series:
The Public Value of Public Services
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Published in the UK in 1998 by
he Public Management Foundation
52B Grays Inn Road
London WC1X 8JT
el: 0171 278 1712
fax: 0171 837 6581
mail: [email protected]
This is the third report in the series, The Public Value of Public Services,
following The Glue that Binds(1996) and Hitting Local Targets(1997)
1998, Public Management Foundation
ISBN: 1 898531 47 1
Photographs: Jim Batty
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Contents
Foreword by the Prime Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The public value of public services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Building new connections
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1
Foreword
Public services make a big contribution to our quality of life. But if people are passed from
pillar to post, are dealt with discourteously or feel their needs are ignored, then not only dothey suffer from a poor service but they also lose confidence in what councils and public
agencies can do. So the voice of those who use services must be heard by those responsible for
planning and delivering services.
By actively listening to and involving local people we improve services, break down
organisational barriers, and do things more efficiently and effectively. Government as a
whole is stronger as a result and people feel more committed to the services the public sector
provides. That is why the Governments Best Value and Better Government initiatives are
focused round the needs and concerns of service users.
I welcome the Public Management Foundations work on strengthening the links between the
public and public services. And I welcome the contribution that this report makes to taking
forward this crucial debate.
by The Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP
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Acknowledgements
Many people contributed to the communitydiscovery event reported here, mostimportantly the 65 members of the Lewisham
citizens panel, who gave two days of their time
sharing their thinking and experience with us toconstruct maps of community outcomes. Barry
Quirk, Chief Executive, and Stella Clarke, Policy
and Equalities Officer, of the London Borough
of Lewisham, provided support, encouragement,
space and every facility needed to host the event.
Design of the community discovery process
was the responsibility of the Office for Public
Management, whose project team, led by Ilona
Cowe, facilitated discussions amongst citizens,
recorded conversations and debates, read through
dozens of personal stories and then wrote the
initial reports on the findings. The members of
the project team were Anne Bennett, Kai Rudat,
Robin Clarke, Merav Dover, Paul Lloyd, Sally Fitch,
David Albury, Jon Harvey, Laurie McMahon andLoraine Martins. Jane Steele, Principal Research
Fellow of the Public Management Foundation,
also participated in the process and drew together
much of the cross-sectoral learning.
The opinions reported here are those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent the views
of Trustees of the Public Management Foundation.
Greg Parston
and Ilona Cowe
July 1998
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The public value of public services
In 1996 the Public Management Foundationinaugurated what was intended to be annnual survey on the publics view of the public
sector a sort of watching brief on what we
alled the public value of public services. Thatirst national study, which was reported in The
Glue that Binds showed that people regarded
public services as an important part of their
lives. And an overwhelming 82 per cent of those
interviewed replied that they wanted a bigger
say in how those services were run.
Last year, inHitting Local Targets, we followed
up and examined in more detail the three services
which people had identified as being most
important to their well-being education, health
services and the police. We asked people across the
country to identify the measures of performance
hat were important to them. How did they know
whether services were good or bad? Did the current
fashion of performance indicators and league
ables provide the information they require?
In what we thought was a more sophisticated
view than many public service professionals
ive the public credit for, respondents identified
utcome as being as important a measure of good
service as the more standard measures of input,such as expenditure per head, or throughput, like
waiting times. For local people, a true measure
of public service success is how well educated,
healthy and safe the local community is as a result
of public service provision.
Acknowledging the importance of the publics
concern with outcomes, this year we chose to
make those outcomes and not just public services the focus of our study.
But this is not a report on another national
survey nor a set of responses to questions crafted
by opinion-takers. Instead, this year we worked
with 65 residents in one urban community, in a
process of plenary discussions and group work.
The purpose was to enable residents to explore
and then map the relationships, as they see them,
between themselves, public services and wider
community resources and to tell us how these
combine to achieve health, learning and safety for
hemselves as individuals and for the community
as a whole. Our aim was to learn more about the
onnections hat people make between their real life
problems and experiences and the public service
organisations and delivery mechanisms that are
meant to be in place to serve them.
On 5 and 6 June 1998, during Democracy Week,
and in association with the London Borough of
Lewisham and the Office for Public Management,
we conducted the first ever community discoveryevent an innovative consultation technique
which engages stakeholders in creating their
own integrated big picture of social outcomes.
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Over thirty hours, local people worked together
to construct and share their collective views
of what health, learning and safety are all
about. By generating data and understanding of
connected problems at the level on which they are
experienced, local people opened up the narrow
definitions of service delivery and began to build
holistic and integrated pictures of public service.
At the level of community consultation, we
learned many things:
Despite the cynicism of some public service
professionals, people are able to think
holistically across service boundaries and build
big pictures of community outcomes. Artificial
service boundaries are rooted largely in the
organisation of service delivery, yet the needs
that they meet are experienced by people in a
seamless, connected and less demarcated way.
The public do not have separate relationships
with discrete service systems; rather, they have
lives that they experience as being comprised of
many connected parts. Through the medium of
mapping individual experiences, they can quite
easily trace the connections between different
aspects of public service and identify the links
to individuals well-being.
Local people can help us build greater under-standing about how service failures in one area
can have consequences in another, and thus
about how to make more effective use of public
resources.
People have good ideas and can offer powerful
new perspectives to enrich policy debates and
the flow of communication between citizen and
state. For these people, policy is not an abstract
debate; its consequences directly translate into
their everyday world and affect things that
really matter throughout their whole lives.
People enjoy authentic engagement around
these issues and the opportunity to connect
with each other, stimulate their thinking and
feel part of an active community. By using a
process which engages peoples real experience,
we can involve members of the public in a form
of active citizenship which stimulates reflexive
knowledge and encourages serious engagement
with important issues.
t the level of specific transactions between
people and services, we learned much more, and
this report documents all of that. The maps of
health, learning and community safety constructed
during the community discovery event demon-
strate a deep understanding of the connections
between problems and of what may need to be the
joined-up solutions.
The pictures in peoples heads, as they placed
and drew them on their maps, are not just about
the quality of individual services. They include
sharp understandings of the effects of one service
on another. They raise important questions about
the intentions and the sometimes unintended
effects of policy. But they also place citizens and
the community in the middle of their maps.
Individual responsibility is important, but so too
is individual self-esteem. Community knowledge is
essential, but not at the sacrifice of equity.
ot all the messages are easy to hear. Some
pose hard challenges to what policy-makers and
managers do. But neither are all of the messages
necessarily correct. They reflect what people know
and understand at a particular time, and some-
times that can be improved through more and
better information and through more prolonged
engagement. And that is the real point.
Simply asking people what they think at onemoment in time is not good enough. The demand
is growing for a new, more active partnership
between people and government at all levels one
that fosters responsibility, opportunity and real
democratic accountability. To build that partner-
ship, we first need to construct new ways of having
a mutually educative dialogue about the social
problems that we are trying to address and about
the social results we are trying to achieve. We
believe that this years study clearly demonstrates
that, given the right means, local people are more
than ready to play their part.
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Methodology
The Public Management Foundation has nowconducted three annual projects aimed ateveloping an understanding of how the public
views, values and interacts with their public
services.Following on from previous work which used
raditional survey methodology to focus on the
publics evaluation of public services, this year we
decided to engage citizens in an innovative process
which mapped out their perceptions, views and,
most important, direct experiences of three major
service areas. In particular, we wanted to look at
how relationships between people, public services
and wider community resources combine to
achieve health, safety and learning for individuals
and communities.
The main focus of this project was the
construction of maps of issues, perceptions and
relationships. We wanted to understand how
citizens constructed relationships around the three
issues of learning, health, and community safety.
There is no shortage of engagement methods,
ranging from small-group deliberative methods
(such as community workshops or citizens juries)
o large group events (such as future search confer-
ences). The field is buzzing with terms suchas visioning, deliberation, action learning
and community appraisals. But there is no
established method for mapping relationships,
and the process used here was designed by the
Office for Public Management to meet this specific
focus. This invention, which we have called
ommunity discovery, borrowed from both small
and large group methodologies. We combinedindividual inputs (through event diaries, drawings
and individual accounts and experiences), small
roup brainstorming, storytelling and discussion
sessions, and work around the three maps that the
community discovery created.
The event was conducted in partnership with
he London Borough of Lewisham. A representative
cross-section of the community was recruited from
Lewishams newly formed Citizens Panel. Sixty
five residents, broadly representative of the social
class, age, sex, ethnic and disability profile of the
borough, participated in the event.
The discovery process lasted a day and a half,
and consisted of the following stages:
the whole group began by identifying the main
issues they wanted to investigate
the participants then formed small groups to
discuss different issues that interested them
they wrote down their ideas from these
discussions on individual post-it notes
the participants mapped their ideas, exper-iences, thoughts, comments and perceptions by
placing their post-it notes onto large sheets of
paper (one for each of the three service areas),
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in the process making clear the relationships
and connections that they felt existed between
them
overarching themes (clusters of ideas) began to
emerge on each map.
to allow participants to add very personal
reflections and experiences, we also set aside
some time for quiet reflection, for people to
record anything (specific events, drawings, etc.)
in their workbooks and for story telling circles.
the final session focused on suggestions for
change. Participants split into four discussion
groups, dealing with change either through
individual action, or through community
action, or through action by local services, or
through government.
These stages of the discovery process provided
participants with a wide range of opportunities for
expression, reflection and interaction. They gave
us rich pictures of how citizens make connections
around key social outcomes.
The resulting maps are an explicit visual repres-
entation of relationships that are often implicit
in peoples experience and understanding. They
uncover a citizens eye view of public service
provision.
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The maps
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Mapping community outcomes
Tof public service provision health, learningand community safety from two different
perspectives.
In each, the first part gives an account of howpeople built the map, identifies the issues they
thought were important, and illustrates the con-
nections people made both within and between
the areas being addressed. It highlights the themes
that emerged throughout the engagement process
and demonstrates a comprehensive citizens view.
The second part of each section provides an
analysis of our findings in relation to existing
policy and policy trends in each service sector.
It illustrates how the connections between the
people, organisations and policy issues which
affect a communitys health, learning and safety
pose real challenges for those managing and
delivering public services. These pieces also offer
some important pointers for managers and policy
makers working in these fields.
The final part draws together thinking across
the different service boundaries and takes a look
at the big picture. It highlights the main themes
that emerged across boundaries, such as the desire
for integrated communities, the importance ofcustomer care and co-production, the preference
for choice and the need to foster community spirit.
This builds a strong sense of what the citizens
discovery process revealed about the direction and
emphasis of peoples thinking.
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The health map
This section begins with an account of thehealth map that the participants developed.The group started by producing a long list of the
issues which they felt were important in relation
o health; the facilitators then helped them tosummarise these to produce the following list of
he overriding areas of concern to people:
Health services GPs, hospitals and
administration
Special health needs ageing and community
care
Looking after yourself personal responsibility,
keeping fit and nutrition
Alternative approaches prevention
The environment
Accountability and funding
The participants then chose which issues they
wanted to explore in small groups, to build up their
health map around these themes.
Looking at the completed health map, we were
able to identify five interconnected themes:
Quality
Accountability and funding
Care in the community
The environment / community infrastructure
Looking after yourself.Considered together, these themes present a
picture that shows that health service users want
more choice and control over their own lives and
over the NHS. The map shows that people want
o be involved in the planning and monitoring of
services, and want more information on the health
system, health treatments, health outcomes and food
labelling. The participants felt strongly that, in ordero feel more in control, they should have the inform-
ation necessary to make choices, and the ability to
influence the planning and delivery of NHS services.
Perhaps more importantly, people were able to give
examples which demonstrated that increased choice
and control over their own health would improve
peoples health at no extra cost.
1. QualityQuality of care was a recurring theme and
dominates the health map. Most issues, as they were
analysed and discussed and placed on the map, were
linked closely with issues of quality, which people
felt encompassed:
variations in care
holistic medicine
continuity of care
information,education and training
systems and management monitoring.
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Variations in careThe participants felt strongly that the quality of
care that the NHS offers is variable. They thought it
important that the quality of care should be stand-
ardised, to the highest level. They felt that whilst
some GPs, pharmacists and dentists were excellent,
others even in the same catchment area were
considerably worse. Similarly, the participants were
struck by the wide variation in the quality of facil-
ities within general practice, both in the buildings
themselves and in the staff working in those
buildings. Great variation between hospitals was
noted, and people had views on which hospitals they
would choose to be seen at for differing ailments.
The perception was that people currently have
very little choice and are often not receiving the
best available care; several people suggested that
they would travel further to be treated at what they
considered to be a better hospital.
Participants also firmly believed that care at the
poorer end of the spectrum should be improved
but, as long as variations in care still exist, what is
important is good information and advice on the
basis of which they can make their choices.
Holistic medicineThere was clear strength of feeling about the
importance of holistic medicine. Many people relatedaccounts of GPs taking a sticking plaster approach
or criticised GPs for treating symptoms rather than
causes and dishing out too many pills. Hospital
consultants were criticised for the narrowness of
their focus and their inability to see beyond their
speciality. What came across strongly was the need
for clinicians to assess a person as a whole being and
for this assessment to take into account the persons
environment, for instance the influence of housing
or family circumstances.
Several people expressed a preference for altern-
ative therapies, including osteopathy, aromatherapy
and homeopathy, In part, what people liked was the
ability of these alternative therapies to look beyond
the presenting symptom. The group wanted inform-
ation to be made available on alternative therapies;
they also wanted to have the choice to use these
therapies by having them more widely available on
the NHS.
Continuity of careContinuity of care was felt to be an importantingredient of quality within both general practice
and hospitals. Some participants expressed their
concern at the frequent use of locums in general
practice and at the effect of seeing different levels of
doctors within a hospital setting. Some participants
spoke of how they saw inefficient systems, such as
the movement of patient notes, contributing to the
lack of continuity of care.
Information, education and trainingcommon theme on the map is education and
training for both service users and providers.
While they were adding issues to the map, people
often remarked that clinicians needed more training
such as training in the role of alternative therapies,
in treating people with respect and on newly
available treatments. The group was not confident
that all clinicians kept up to date clinically or that
they had sufficient information on the availability
and quality of other services. The training of nurses
and of non clinical staff such as receptionists and
home-helps was also important to them. Some
people were concerned that staff either went
outside their prescribed role or had not been trained
sufficiently for an extended role.
common plea was for education for service
users, in the form of information on services and
their availability, on how to work the system,
and on service quality. Although the map does not
detail how this information should be conveyed, itwas clearly important to people that they can make
choices, and information was seen to be the key.
Systems and managementnumber of comments were made on the burden
of paperwork and the effect this was having on the
quality of care. The perception people had was that
paperwork was reducing the time available for face-
to-face clinical consultations and that it was either
unnecessary or should be taken away from clinical
staff.
common source of frustration was the area
of patient records: people felt that the system was
inflexible and therefore worked against their interests
as patients. Some expressed their dissatisfaction that
notes could not be shared with the private sector,
including alternative therapists; others had com-
plaints about the transfer of records between GPs or
between GPs and hospital staff.
ppointment systems in hospitals and in
general practice also annoyed many participants.They felt they had to wait too long for an appoint-
ment, by which time their symptoms were likely to
have become acute.
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MonitoringAn apparent dilemma emerged when issues of
service monitoring were discussed. On the one hand,
it was felt that monitoring added to paperwork and
ook time away from clinical work. On the other
hand, some people wanted more monitoring in order
o end variations in quality. In keeping with the
desire for more choice and control, there was the
suggestion that users should be involved in service
monitoring.
2. Accountability andfunding
Accountability and the funding of the NHS were
wo issues on the map that people connected very
closely with quality. Many people believed that the
NHS is underfunded but there was no consensus
on how to raise more money, although prescription
charges and dental charges were felt not to be the
right way. A number of people observed that because
hey were unable to afford prescriptions their health
had deteriorated at a greater final cost to the
NHS. Participants also felt that, where charges were
imposed, the earnings of low income families ought
o be taken into account.
People recognised that advances in medicinewere pushing up costs in the NHS and that this
manifested itself in longer waiting lists and shorter
appointments.
What also comes through in this part of the
map is the perception that the NHS lacks openness.
Participants complained that there was too little
information and openness about how money is spent
and, in this sense, wanted the NHS to be more demo-
cratic. Accepting that priorities had to be set, they
wanted to be involved in setting them.
3. Care in the community
This part of the map reveals that people were
concerned about whether the care in the community
services they received were appropriate and met their
needs. They felt that, in some cases, the people who
provided services failed to understand the needs they
were meant to be meeting.
People thought that carers should receive moreback-up and support and emphasised that the
supervision of care in special needs accommod-
ation needed to be improved. Some people felt that
services were deteriorating, but the main theme was
hat resources should be accurately and appropriately
argeted. Noting that the proper targeting of
resources was related to increased user consultation,
especially in service design, participants felt that user
consultation should include the design of buildings
for people with special needs.
4. The environment;community infrastructure
What emerges most clearly in this section of the
map is the connection people saw between their
health and the environment in which they live.
Underpinning many of the themes was the idea
of community spirit, whether this meant sharing
information on how the system works or about the
best GPs, or caring for people at home who would
otherwise need to be in hospital.
People felt that housing and health could not
be divorced. The need for secure tenure in safe and
physically accessible housing, and freedom from
damp and cold, were strong messages that they put
on the map.
Transport appears on the map in various ways.
Participants felt that environmental pollution was
contributing to ill health and that more controls onprivate transport and more accessible and affordable
public transport would not only reduce ill health
from pollution but would also reduce stress from
social isolation.
5. Looking after yourself
The importance of looking after yourself is
very prominent on the map. There was certainly
a feeling that insufficient resources were being
iven to the prevention of ill-health. There was no
shortage of knowledge of how to prevent ill-health:
exercising, eating well, not smoking and reducing
stress, for example. But what came across strongly
was the recognition that prevention requires
resources time and money both of which are at
a premium for many people. Strong connections
were drawn with the theme of the environment
and community infrastructure, and people made
links to housing, childcare and poverty.
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The challenge to health service management
G nerally, the NHS is held in high regardnd with some affection: the participantsrelated many personal accounts of good
treatment and after-care. The stories that people
told about things going wrong all seemed tocentre on administrative cock ups. At times
of major organisational change, managers
are rightly concerned about leadership and
strategy at the top of the office, but it is all too
easy for them to lose sight of the need to get
the bureaucratic detail right. Our community
discovery event showed that getting this wrong
may have the most immediate and damaging
effect on the publics satisfaction with health
services.
People often mentioned their lack of confidence
in GPs, but this usually had less to do with GPs
technical competence as clinicians than with their
lack of knowledge of what is available for patients
and their families. One woman had made three
struggles by bus to a central London hospital
before a friend told her that she could get help
with transport. She then asked her GP and he told
her how to obtain this help. But why did she even
have to ask, when the GP already knew of her
circumstances? Likewise, people valued being ableto choose a hospital and would look to their GP for
advice on this. Again, the information was often
not available.
Ministers want to see an increase in public
confidence in the NHS: this event showed us that
the GP is the vital first building block to raise this
confidence. It also suggested that the public is
ready for more information such as benchmarkingand clinical effectiveness data to help them make
choices, and that any attempt to keep this for
professional and managerial eyes only should be
resisted. People wantto know and they expect their
GPs to be able to tell them.
earby on the health map is the issue of
training. The most important facet of this
concerned the quality and breadth of GP training
and the issue of helpers doing nurses work: it was
reported, for instance, that assistants were giving
injections in the home. The feeling was that there
was too much untrained monitoring of home care
and not enough actual trained care. Re-engineering
and altering the skill-mix are of tremendous
importance to service providers as they pursue
greater efficiency, but the public perception that
services are deviating from the gold standard of
doctors and nurses might have to be managed
more carefully.
What was also apparent was the depth of
public understanding about the health educationagenda. They were big on self-reliance and on
looking after themselves, keen on the preventive
value of alternative therapies and concerned
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about the quality of food and the uncontrolled
interests of the food industry. As we have already
seen, people are aware of the effect of the wider
environment on their communitys health. What
he participants really wanted was more inform-
ation about how the system works, about who
is responsible for what, about how decisions are
made and about how they might influence those
decisions. Perhaps this signals the need for a new
ype of health education which is less about telling
people what they already seem to know and more
about empowering them to derive the maximum
benefit from services. It would also be foolish to
ignore the apparent strength of feeling about food
and nutrition; this evidence should strengthen
he hand of those who are trying to ensure that
overnment departments act in concert to improve
health and welfare.
The issues that people raised were rather
different to those that are currently driving the
agenda inside the NHS. Their concerns were about
waiting times and cancellations, about the respect
hey received from doctors, about mentally ill
people and community care: about the things
hat directly affect them. But, with the notable
exception of waiting lists, the managerial and
professional agenda within the NHS is about things
like PCGs and HIPs and HAZs and NICE. Noneof this is of much interest to the public its all
underwear to them and (apart from getting rid
of fundholding) people are mainly concerned with
he availability and nature of the services they use
he most.
For health managers, then, the message would
seem to be to get the changes over with as quickly
and as quietly as possible, bearing in mind why
politicians are locked into these basic concerns.
The corresponding message for politicians is
hat they need to provide the cover to allow the
managers to get on and reshape the NHS so that
a more appropriate focus on outcomes and public
satisfaction can be maintained.
While public service managers are struggling
o overcome sectoral, organisational and depart-
mental boundaries to work in partnership, the
public seems to be one step ahead. They under-
stand extremely well the links between housing,
employment, traffic management and the quality
of the built environment, and their combinedimpact on peoples health and welfare. Their ability
o think in what managers like to call whole
system terms was demonstrated again and again.
The difficulty that public service organisations
have in thinking this way to do joined-up
planning, to generate the big pot of resources is
a problem for them, not for the public.
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The learning map
Tabout which the participants developeda rich list of issues. From the outset, it was
clear that a very wide range of definitions and
questions were being raised, some of whichrelated to the formal education of children and
adults within the recognised national system,
and others which placed learning within a
wide agenda of social, economic, community,
individual and national issues. Building up the
learning map involved exploring some broad
themes and finding links and divergence within
and between several sets of issues. The key
clusters of issues which emerged are shown in
the diagram.
1. Education: who andwhat is it for?
The participants took an holistic view of the
purpose of education, discussing the difference
between learning as a natural and essential part
of living and the economic necessity of having a
skilled and educated workforce.
Early in the mapping process, a key proposalwas made, to which many subsequent items
referred back: the need to review and refresh the
whole ethos of education in the nation, that
is, how it is viewed, its core purposes and its
underpinning values. This was also expressed as
a frustration with certain, narrowly defined (and
media highlighted) issues, such as the achievement
of formal academic qualifications, school league
tables and competition/division within the system.
The section of the map referring to politics and
policies reveals a strong urge for a more rounded,
inclusive and integrated approach to learning.People raised subjects like pre-school education,
the family and community role, the desire of
unemployed or older people, and individuals with
Issues emerging in the
1. Education:who and whatis it for?
2. Learningfor life 3. Equal
opportunities
4. Schooand teachincludin
alternatispecial n
5. Parenand fami6.The
government'sagenda
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specific needs and preferences, to gain access and
contribute to learning, and their recognition of the
non-school aspects of education. The essential
values which emerged were those of equality of
opportunity (and the problems of social exclusion),
freedom of choice, and free or affordable, high
quality learning opportunities for all.
People also mapped the desire to gain
qualifications and the risks of lowering standards
o achieve a universal level of attainment
alongside the wish to avoid a multi-tiered, socially
divisive system, which many had experienced.
2. Learning for life
The group understood the phrase lifelong
learning as referring mostly to keeping the work
force up to date with the skills necessary for
employment. However, they also emphasised a
quite different meaning: learning as an essential
part of life, ranging from opportunities at pre-
school level to develop learning skills and a love
of learning, through to the desire of older people
o continue engaging in personal and social
development.
Learning for life can provide people with
education, at whatever academic level, for a myriadof reasons:
social interaction
self development
ones vocational needs
changes in the workplace
academic or intellectual challenges
gaining qualifications.
In the debate about the ethos behind learning
and education it was clear that the group shared
a set of values which included the ideas of
inclusivity and individuality. People believed
hat the opportunities afforded to individuals
hroughout life should embody choice and
be learner-centred and should build social
connections and community capacity (which was
interpreted as being involved, not isolated, and
being able to manage ones own life and contribute
o others).
The map illustrates the various qualities that
people believed learning for life would promote:
initiative, an enthusiasm for learning and personalrowth and a tolerance of diversity; it would also
develop respect, morality and socially responsible
behaviour. Many of these were seen as the province
of pre-school and family-sustained early learning
which was a tool for influencing and shaping
social-interaction skills like listening, talking and
roup participation; all of these were seen as major
contributors to a more cohesive and connected
community. Some participants felt that the
earlier children gain access to such an educational
environment (including formal settings) the better.
It was widely held, however, that such settings
need not introduce the national curriculum before
he age of five.
Another message to emerge from the map
is that people felt that too many options were
closed off at later stages in life. Unemployed
people may secure certain kinds of help, but often
lacked fundamental skills (including the ability
o learn and to value the effort). Some people
perceived that the cost of gaining further and
higher education had risen, while choices have
been reduced. Hobby style, personal development
(or non-vocational) classes were felt to be a key
part of sustaining the lifelong learning ethos and
nurturing self-esteem, sociability and community
spirit.
3. Equal opportunities
The group explored the issues of education as
a right, access and special needs and produced a
series of statements about the importance of choice
without elitism or the traditional mindsets which
valued academic qualifications in isolation from
heir social and individual relevance.
Some participants saw the present formal
education system as one that continues to press
for traditional standards which may disadvantage
some and segregate or exclude others. The ability
of a system to provide equal opportunities
was allied to the state of the community: its
socioeconomic make up and its integration, or
otherwise, of diverse groups. Whilst a rethink
might be appropriate about how learning
can produce a more integrated and tolerant
community, the existence of such a community
was also seen as being the prerequisite for an
effective equal opportunities approach within the
system.
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4. Schools and teachers
The development of the child is at the centre
of this section of the learning map. The group
acknowledged a number of learning objectives
self-development, enjoyment, and self-esteem,
for instance and believed that developing
individuals and communities was more important
than achieving academic standards.
The participants reflected on the tension
between, on the one hand, our expectation that
teachers will provide the skills needed to achieve
successful examinations results and, on the other,
our desire that teachers should transfer social
values and morals.
Peoples goals and concerns included:
the appropriate development of teachers,
through positive recruitment and
remuneration, continuous professional
development and learning from mistakes
a re-balancing of teachers responsibilities
away from administrative duties (particularly
those linked to early testing and league tables)
towards more social engagement with children
through things like lunch-time activities,
clubs, arts, sports and the wider curriculum,
and other activities which emphasise self-
expression and enjoyable learning addressing the disadvantage (even alienation)
that boys experience through, for example,
the early emphasis on literacy, the lack of male
role models who value education, and the
suppression of other forms of learning
achieving more dialogue and co-operation
between teachers and parents, developing closer
relationships with parents and involving them
in their childrens learning, and recognising
that parental support does not have to be
academic
recognising that the diversity of pupil
populations (ethnicity, gender, health and
disability, poverty, and so on) requires
imaginative teaching and should not be
straitjacketed by performance league tables
reforming current policy priorities which tend
to alienate pupils and parents and add to
emotional and behavioural difficulties, leading
to bullying and other anti-social behaviour
recognising the damage caused by league tablesto schools which are dealing with diverse
populations. Schools can gain undeserved
bad reputations through the attentions of
he media and national government. Does
overnment policy recognise the needs of
communities in same way as it seems to
recognise needs of employers? The participants
drew connections between the governments
emphasis on developing a skilled workforce and
an increase in courses leading to vocational
qualifications like NVQs, and computer skills
courses, which may limit the development of
social skills.
In terms of choice, alternatives and special
needs, the map displays a strongly egalitarian
stance (very much reflecting the diversity within
the group). Peoples preference was for integration,
where possible, including people with learning and
physical disabilities as well as differing emotional
and psychological abilities.
This integration would, however, require
reduced class sizes and more teaching and supportresources; the participants felt that resources could
be redirected from some other services such as
special schools.
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Some people believed that, at present, the
system does not recognise the differing needs
of children. They approved of needs-led and
learner-centred approaches and gave examples
of (privately financed) alternatives such as free
schools and Steiner schools in which a different
ethos could be examined. They felt that these
showed a more versatile and positive approach
han that of the current resource-constrained,
narrow and competitive system.
5. Parents and families
What emerges very clearly from this section
of the map is that parental support for learning
was considered very important, especially in the
development of values and morals. Parents should
be conscious of the need to set examples for their
children; this includes setting boundaries of accept-
able and unacceptable behaviour, showing respect
for others, and conveying to children a sense of
right and wrong.
People felt that this needed to be supported by
closer relationships between schools, teachers and
parents. There was some disagreement, however,
about the value of parenting classes; most people
felt that this was a patronising approach. Neverthe-less it was felt that the provision of early parenting
skills and support could greatly increase confidence
and family readiness to engage in the lifelong
learning and formal education agendas.
Parents in the group felt that relations were
easier to develop and maintain during childrens
primary school years, because there was more
informal contact with schools. Secondary schools
used more formal channels such as parent-teacher
associations and newsletters which did not create
he same understanding or bond. Many parents
would welcome more informal chats with
eachers. It would also be helpful if parents were
iven more guidance on what kind of support they
could give or might be expected of them.
People also saw it as part of the parental role to
watch out for early warning signs (related to sex,
drugs or alcohol use, and delinquency) and to liaise
with the school to ensure that childrens learning
careers were not diverted into antisocial or danger-
ous activities. The group drew many connectionsbetween families and schools as partners in pro-
viding children with a rounded development which
would hold lasting benefits for future generations.
6. The governmentsagenda
From the map it is clear that the participants
felt little sense of an existing shared vision for
learning between communities and government.
They thought that their discussions had developed
he foundation of a possible community
vision, with the emphasis on lifelong learning,
community goals, and the development of social
skills and self-esteem. This stood in sharp contrast
with their perception of government policy, with
its apparent focus on testing and league tables.
People wanted more interaction with
overnment, through consultation and better
information. If the role of government policy is
he articulation of societys goals and values, this
needs to be underpinned by a greater engagement
with local communities.
Local government was seen as the main
agent for this interaction, linking local needs
and interests to education policy and funding.
There were some advocates for strengthening the
power of local management of schools, but the
majority of participants welcomed the role and
contribution of local education departments,
particularly concerning the issues of equality and
he representation of wider community needs.
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The challenge to education management
Transforming education so that it providesthe opportunities for all individuals andorganisations to participate fully, economically
and socially in the learning age will require
managers and politicians to harness the potentialand the resources of local, business, religious and
other communities. But, as was demonstrated
abundantly by the rich discussion and mapping
at this event, learning, especially in the era of
rapid development and use of communications
and information technologies (CIT), means far
more than the traditional forms and institutions
schools, colleges and universities.
The New Labour Government has made
education a priority and a raft of policies and
initiatives including education action zones,
numeracy and literacy schemes, the New Deal,
University for Industry, and National Grid for
Learning have been put in place to raise standards,
promote social inclusion, exploit CIT and develop
learning for life.
From the debate among the participants,
whilst it is clear that much remains to be done to
communicate and embed these, as well as the desire
for more resources there are two major areas which
still need considerable attention. First, althoughstandards, targets and measures of comparative
performance may be helpful in assuring that all
individuals acquire basic and necessary skills,
there is a lack of clarity over the purposes and
desired outcomes of education: what is education
for? Second, politicians, managers, professionals,
communities, parents and children all need to unite
in order to achieve these purposes and outcomes.Though learning takes place in many settings,
schools are still at the heart of the educational
process for most communities. Childrens
expectations of education and their enjoyment
or dislike of learning, are formed through their
experience of school, reinforced or lessened by family
and friends. Yet in two important respects, over the
last couple of decades, the focus of school activities
has narrowed.
One participant noted, There used to be all sorts
of extra-curricular classes at the local school: keep-
fit, foreign languages, music, art, English and even
ante-natal groups. You met people from the area and
it was a focus for the community. Now all this has
gone, crime has increased, the school gets vandalised,
and everyones health has suffered.
Throughout the UK, of course, there are
honourable exceptions, but all too often schools
have become isolated from the communities which
they serve. Schools (and colleges and universities)
which could, with imagination, be the site for thedelivery of many health, social and leisure services,
provide a wide range of educational and training
activities for adults and children and be an engine
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for economic and social regeneration, have, through
he pressure of legislation, the withdrawal of services
and a reduction in resources, become narrowly
focused on the performance of children.
The second narrowing is in the concept of
performance. Many participants expressed their
concern that there is too much emphasis on
qualifications, standards and, for adult learning,
accreditation and too little on the wider role of
learning, such as building self-esteem, whole life
skills, the development of potential and not just
employment needs, and enhancing the capacity to
learn and a love of learning.
What is required is a vision for education, a
picture of learning which embraces the current
agenda and also addresses the wider social needs
of individuals and communities in a learning age,
which values emotional literacy as well as linguistic
and IT literacy, culture as well as economy. What
would a community be like if learning was highly
valued and inclusive, if education was only one part
of learning, and if learning was for life?
Throughout public services, and perhaps
particularly in education, two sets of fault lines
hinder the articulation and realisation of a common
vision and unity in purpose: the fault lines between
politicians, managers, professionals and publics, and
hose between national, regional, local, communityand family levels of understanding, responsibility
and action.
Making the Connections offers a glimpse of how
hese fault lines might be overcome. Politicians and
managers across the UK are striving through citizens
panels, citizens juries, deliberative polling and other
activities to develop the capacities and capabilities of
individuals and communities. And good managers
and leaders seek to do the same with professionals
and staff in their organisations.
As many political writers and advisers have
commented, societies in the late 20th and 21st
centuries are increasingly interlinked and share
common risk. If individuals and communities are to
participate fully in such societies and be involved
in social and individual choice, complex decision-
making and prioritisation (rationing), they need
he appropriate skills and the access to relevant
information. Individuals need these capacities and
capabilities not just for employment but to be active
and engaged members of communities, not just torespond but to be able to make public services work
for them.
This responsibility of education managers and
politicians developing capacities and capabilities
is shared with teachers and lecturers, with education
professionals. And is shared with managers and
politicians across public services. National bodies
(DfEE, OFSTED, the Audit Commission, etc) could
redefine their role as being to develop the capacities
and capabilities of regional and local bodies
(including local authorities/LEAs) and local bodies
as being to do the same for schools and community
organisations.
Doing so could be the glue that would bind
stakeholders together, and levels of learning the
hread which could reconnect government, public
services and individuals.
A number of possibilities for learning and action
by public service managers suggest themselves:
education managers heads, principals and
vice-chancellors could consider how to open
up further their institutions to the communities
which they serve
in a knowledge society, educational institutions
schools, colleges and universities could be
the site for the debate over the delivery of public
services
learning the development of capacities and
capabilities is the responsibility of all public
service managers, not just those in education accountability for education (and other public
services) needs to move from the formal,
representative and upward to the consultative,
engaged and outward.
Perhaps the most important lesson, however, is
he need for a vision for education. What is needed
is a picture of learning appropriate to the 21st
century, a story which holds together the various
initiatives, plans and policies, which recognises the
need for safeguards against failure and arbitration
of conflict but which connects the different parts of
he education and learning systems. A vision which
replaces the stretch-and-discard which has often
characterised education in this country with a notion
of social inclusion and inclusiveness. Amongst the
many pilots in education, such as those in Gateshead
Learning World and West Walker Primary School, we
may catch glimpses of this vision. The future often
starts in small places.
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The community safety map
T Making theConnections event was one for communitysafety. The issues that participants identified
can be clustered around the following themes:
personal and community responsibility the environment and society
safety
the criminal justice system
training and quality.
People said that they feel remote, or even
excluded, from the decision-making arenas where
community safety policies are made. There was a
strong feeling that many of the bodies involved
in community safety, such as the police and the
courts, are failing too often in their duties, with
the consequences being felt by individuals and
communities. People want to have more of a direct
say in the direction of community safety initiatives.
1. Personal andcommunity responsibility
The map clearly indicates a very strong feeling
that the responsibility for community safety does
not lie solely on the shoulders of bodies like thepolice. Participants agreed that both the individual
and the wider community should be striving
towards community safety. However, people also
commented that, in what they perceived as an
increasingly fragmented society, the sense of
community is weak, and the bonds between people
becoming frayed. If individuals and the community
are to take more responsibility for community safetythese bonds will first need to be re-established and
community spirit re-invigorated.
Community is an elusive concept, but one
which nearly everyone recognised as a positive idea.
People identified themselves as members not only
of communities of place, but also of communities of
interest. They felt that these individual communities
are valuable and should be nurtured, but should also
look outwards and seek to enrich the larger society.
Community spirit is not something which
can solely be rekindled from within and people
commented that it requires an outside impetus
and support. They thought that education was
essential, firstly to help rebuild community spirit,
and secondly to raise levels of understanding and
tolerance between the different communities.
However, the map clearly shows that people
believe the individual is as important as the
community and should not be subsumed by it.
Individual space and privacy need to be respected
and nurtured. But some people commented that self-esteem, like community spirit, is often lacking or in
need of re-invigoration. Again, people believed that
education had a role to play here.
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sections of the community safety map
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2. The environment andsociety
Across the community safety map two themes
appear several times: the environment and
society. The two are closely linked and may
often be inseparable. An individuals immediate
environment and the wider pressures of society
may influence that persons propensity either to
commit crime or be a victim of crime.
Societal pressures, often channelled through
he media, can have an impact upon crime.
Two examples which people placed on the map
illustrated this. The first had to do with the
way that the media often portrays drug use as
lamourous (it should be noted that people did
not just perceive drugs as meaning illicit drugs).
The second was the medias tendency to emphasise
he perceived importance, for young people in
particular, to keep up with the latest trends in
fashion. Both of these were viewed by participants
as placing an undue pressure on young people to
strive to keep up with their peers; not surprisingly,
hey felt, this pressure often manifests itself
hrough crime.
People also pointed to unemployment as
another problem which has an impact upon crime,
if only through the boredom which it can bring.The map shows peoples desire to have the problem
of unemployment addressed through innovative
means, for example, by searching for alternatives
o employment if getting a person into work is not
a practical prospect.
An individuals own immediate environment
the built environment within which a person
lives, but also their home situation also affects
community safety. Marriage break-ups and child-
abuse were just two examples that people gave of
how a persons situation at home can affect how
hey interact with the wider society. People drew
close connections on the map between this area
and that of individual and community responsib-
ility in that having ones marriage collapse or
having been a victim of child abuse is likely to
affect a persons self-esteem, with possible costs for
community safety.
3. Safety
Safety features very prominently on the map
and is closely linked to the issues about the
environment. Safety is an issue with a particular
resonance at the local level and people made
references to it in many different local situations.
A major aspect of safety that the map highlights
concerns transport and road safety. People felt that
speeding cars were a particular danger, but parked
cars causing an obstruction were also perceived
as a safety problem. Participants used the map to
draw a connection between traffic safety and drink
driving which they viewed not only as a safety
issue, but also a crime-related problem.
People extended their concerns about transport
safety to include security on public transport. They
felt that a visible, human presence in the form of
a conductor or guard added greatly to feelings of
safety. And this human security presence was also
valued in other situations, such as having wardens
in sheltered housing or even in public spaces such
as parks.
Safety measures may also take other forms.
People generally see CCTV as a necessary evil
where concerns about individual privacy should be
set aside in pursuit of the greater good. But they
felt that the balance between privacy and safetybecame far more debatable when the question of
ID cards as a possible safety measure was raised.
4. The criminal justicesystem
Across the map, the main elements of the
criminal justice system are noted as failing in many
respects. People particularly criticised the courts:
for instance, they noted their concern about how
long it takes, from the time of their arrest, for a
person to come to trial. Sentences handed out by
courts were often thought to be inappropriate and
lacking in consistency, so that soft crimes often
attracted too harsh a sentence, while more serious
crimes were sometimes punished too leniently.
Again the map makes a link to education as
offering part of the solution to this problem.
People felt that judges were an especially weak
aspect of the criminal justice system, out of touchwith societys views, and thought that educational
and training programmes could provide one means
of bringing them up to scratch.
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It was not only the individual agencies which
were believed to be failing but also the links
between them. For example, participants felt
the police were remote from the courts and,
consequently, they thought that the two may often
be pulling in different directions. The various
agencies of the criminal justice, particularly the
police, were also thought to be remote fromthe communities they serve. If the community
is to achieve the levels of responsibility and
involvement which large areas of the map indicate
they want, then links need to be made not only
across bodies but also ownwards owards the
communities they serve. One way in which the
police could do this would be to recruit more
members from their community, and this may
be seen as an additional aspect to community
policing.
5. Training and quality
Issues of training and quality cross-cut many
of the issues highlighted on the map and were
particularly closely connected to the criminal
justice system. Quality underpins many of the
concerns people have with agencies which have
an input into community safety, and people felt
that training would be one vehicle through whichquality might be improved.
The map shows peoples concerns with the
effects on the quality of the police and policing of
an under investment in quality. A lack of quality
can affect different communities in different
ways. While for some people it may mean little
more than a seeming lack of politeness from
police officers, others experience it as a lack of
respect which can have serious and far reaching
consequences. It can lead, for example, to
individuals and communities feeling disaffectedand angry, with a resulting breakdown in relations
with the police.
Even worse, a lack of quality and training may
manifest itself in a perceived lack of accountability
or corruption. People pointed to the Stephen
Lawrence case as an example that had been made
public but feared that corruption or a lack of
accountability might be endemic, though hidden.
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The challenge to police management
The forthcoming Crime & Disorder legislationwill introduce a range of radical reformso policing, bolster partnerships between local
gencies, and introduce fresh approaches to
youth justice. The legislation is commandingwidespread support which is no mean
chievement in the realm of criminal justice
where many past policies often seemed to
produce more dissent than consensus.
The debates at this community discovery event
illustrated that the public has a sophisticated
understanding of the complexities of crime and
disorder. People are quite prepared to support
and work with the public services concerned to
unpack that soundbite tough on crime, tough on
he causes of crime and to help develop robust
strategies that will lead to safer streets, homes
and workplaces. Just as they did with health
and learning, the participants recognised that
individuals, communities, public services and the
overnment all have a part to play in achieving
improvements in the quality of life.
Under the banner of crime and safety, many
linked issues were discussed road safety as well
as crime and the fear of crime and people saw a
role for both the council and the police in takingaction on these matters. Within the Crime and
Disorder legislation the government has, very
deliberately, not prescribed what local community
safety strategies should contain except in so far
hat they must be based upon a local review
of crime patterns (taking due account of the
knowledge and experience of persons in the area
Crime and Disorder Bill, Clause 6). The evidencefrom this event is that members of the public want
and need to be involved in helping decide the
scope of these reviews or audits to ensure that
he resulting strategies have their support. The
ambiguity about what crime and disorder strategies
should contain needs to resolved with the public.
They will need, too, to be involved in helping
decide which issues should become priorities.
The supervision of public places was a theme
hat came up again and again in a variety of guises,
such as the consequences of removing wardens
and concierges and police officers on foot (or
bike) patrol. A number of people made the clear
observation it was a false economy to remove this
visible human presence. The message is clear: if
local agencies are serious about crime prevention
and problem solving then they, like the public,
must make the connections between budgetary
policies and their consequences.
Not surprisingly many of the points people
made focused on the role and capability ofhe police. The pressures on the police were
highlighted (all that form filling said one
person) but so too were their attitudes to the
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public (my daughters front door was kicked
in, wrongly, and she never got even an apology,
let alone compensation said another). The
public wants community police officers who are
naturally inclined and able (from hard won local
knowledge) to work with local people. There are
many implications here for the police in terms of
recruitment and career management policies an
issue recently highlighted in Misspent Youth: 98
Many people identified the importance of
community spirit and self esteem in reducing
crime but there was a sense of frustration at the
low level of tangible support given by the services
to nurture such individual and community
development. Perhaps in the efforts to set hard and
specific targets, these ineffable precursors of a safer
society are being overlooked. In the fight against
crime, the people are saying formulate objectives
for community spirit so that crime and disorder
strategies are integrated and therefore effective.
There was a generally poor view of the criminal
justice system: the discussions touched on subjects
like the inefficiency of the Crown Prosecution
Service, the little attention given to victims in the
courts, and so forth. The criminal justice system
has, it would appear, managed to avoid the same
degree of scrutiny and pressure to change that
most (if not all) other public services have beensubjected to. Commonplace concepts such as
client satisfaction and financial accountability
do not seem to figure in the justice system,
particularly the courts and CPS. This looks set
to change: the CPS is about to restructured and
questions have been raised over the sums being
earned by QCs from the public purse. It would
appear from what was discussed that this trend
is none too late. People will give their support
to forthcoming reforms if they result in swifter,
cheaper and more effective processes that pay
greater heed to the needs and wishes of all the
people involved.
Many links were made between drugs
and alcohol and crime, and indeed health.
The importance of preventive education was
emphasised within a wide ranging discussion
about the public health and safety implications of
drugs. These comments only serve to underline the
importance of, and support for, the governments
strategy to drive forward an integrated approach topreventing drug abuse trying to reduce demand
and supply. However this public support is not
unconditional. Several of the comments made
by participants showed a high intolerance for
inconsistency; whatever the government may say,
the public (particularly the young, where there
is much ground to be won) are watching for the
(symbolic) actions to match its words.
Interestingly one group chose to focus their
discussion upon unemployment and victims,
recognising that whilst many criminals are
unemployed so are many of their victims. The
cycles of deprivation and distrust were well
understood by the people in that group. Indeed
many, many connections were made between
community safety and the two other themes of
the event, learning and health. One connection,
however, particularly stands out: if education is
to achieve anything, it must help people make
choices in their lives and it is this which will, in
turn, reduce social exclusion and therefore crime.
The participants at this event would appear
to understand and approve of the governments
approach to tackling social exclusion. They, like
the government, recognise the complexity and
interrelatedness of many of the factors which
conspire to produce people and estates where
crime seems to be the only option. The public are
waiting, in hope, for the results of this joined up
thinking and action.
The discussion and the map produced throughthis process of community discovery validate how
vital and worthwhile it is to engage the public
in the co-creation of and not just consultation
about local crime and disorder strategies and in
the co-implementation of these strategies. There is
so much that is possible and so much to be done.
But it is clear that the public is willing and able to
take action to reduce crime and the fear of crime
and build a better Britain.
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The big picture
People have very many different experiencesof using public services. Individuals makeonnections between these experiences in ways
which it is difficult for public servants, working
with their own fields or functions, to emulate.By exploring these connections, we can identify
ways in which public services can help the
public to achieve their aims: greater self-help
nd a more productive partnership between
people and services.
People accept responsibility for their own well-
being. They are willing and able to do more to
improve their own health, safety and learning and
hat of others. In this community discovery event,
here was a preference for self help and a desire for
he sort of support which would make this more
possible. And there was a widespread recognition
of the sorts of individual actions and qualities
such as tolerance, respect, mutual support and
neighbourliness which help to create the sorts of
communities in which people want to live.
Participants in this event approached public
services much more as citizens than as customers,
while defining public services as action that could
and should be taken for the public good, rather
han as specific public sector organisations. Therewas a striking emphasis on the role of public
services in helping people to live together in a
healthy and safe environment. The provision of
one-to-one services was seen as only one part
of a much bigger picture which was made up of
a network of connections between individuals,
roups and services.
Integrated communitiesNot only did people want education services
o do more to help children learn about the
differences within a diverse community but they
wanted public services in general to bring together
roups of people from different backgrounds so
hat they might understand one another better.
For example, the inclusion of children with special
needs in mainstream schools was seen of enormous
benefit to both groups of children, and their
parents, providing this was properly resourced and
he professionals were committed to it.
Customer care and co-productionPeoples experiences of even routine and
relatively unimportant transactions with public
services influence their future behaviour and
attitudes. Peoples attempts to be active and
responsible citizens by, for example, reporting a
crime, are stifled when their action is ignored or
met with rudely.Where the contact is of greater significance, to
he user at least, it can result in a serious loss of
confidence. Teenage boys going to the police after
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Public Management
being attacked were left feeling alienated by the
hostility of the police and their long and fruitless
wait for medical attention. If public services are
to build a stronger partnership with citizens, the
basic principles of the Citizens Charter can help to
create the necessary trust and help to enrol citizens
as co-producers of the desired outcomes of public
services.
Support and self helpPeople recognised that limited support from
public services can often enable independence
the almost universal preference. However, they
were concerned that uncoordinated decisions
by public services often blocked self-help and
resulted in a poorer quality of life and greater
demands on the public purse. All too often, one
part of the public sector failed to provide the
infrastructure which would enable another part to
meet its objectives of helping citizens to look after
themselves.
Illustrations were numerous: mothers having to
give up work because they could not find suitable,
affordable child care; withdrawal of youth services
contributing to higher crime rates; the closure
of social clubs adding to the isolation and ill
health of elderly people; and the wait for a GPs
appointment lengthening the absence from schooland work.
Choice and accountabilityPeople want choice. They are also willing to
take the responsibility of being more proactive in
meeting their needs, in partnership with public
service providers. People felt a sense of ownership
of public services, although this was not reflected
in opportunities to engage in policy making
and systems for service delivery. This sense of
ownership was combined with a desire for more
openness and accountability in the design and
delivery of services. At a basic level this consisted
of the ability of service providers to answer what
members of the public saw as simple questions.
They were concerned to be able to avoid the poor
quality schools, doctors, hospitals and other public
services. A more uniform standard of provision
would make this less of an issue. However, in
a wider sense, choice was connected to self
empowerment, taking responsibility and placingthe citizen at the centre of public service provision.
As it is, their attempts to choose are defeated
by a lack of information and the lack of options.
Further, they are sceptical about the role of
performance information in actually enabling
choice or raising standards. In the case of school
league tables, the indicators did not reflect the real
priorities of children and parents. Nevertheless,
some parents felt compelled to act on the basis of
this information, creating more pressure on the
good schools and depriving the bad schools of
the sort of mixed community which people said
they preferred.
Fostering a community spiritThe need and desire to foster more of a
community spirit was a major theme running
through all the discussions. There were many
facets to this, including respect and understanding
for others and a sense of responsibility for assisting
other people. With a more active community
spirit, people felt, much could be done to
prevent and tackle crime, to provide a healthier
environment, and to increase individuals learning
and self esteem.
People want public services to help them
develop more active communities. Events like
the one which led to this report can help, but
only if public services take a genuine interest in
what people have to say, and commit themselves
to acting on what they hear. Public services canfacilitate community development by supporting
groups, disseminating information, and providing
events and facilities, perhaps helping schools
to move away from an all-consuming focus on
exam results and to become more of a base for
community activity.
Communicationplea for better communication was heard
in every context. The need for more information
and greater dialogue is pressing. The lack of
communication between different parts of public
services and between services and their users
frustrates and in some cases enrages people. It
restricts access to services and prevents people
from contributing fully to their own well-being
and that of the community.
People were moved to comment on the
differences between the views expressed by
participants in this event, and the presentation of
public opinion in the media. They urged publicservices at local and national level to develop
much more direct communication with the public.
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Central government and top management
need to promote a visionary agenda of social
results and a more inspiring ethos for publicservice.
Government at all levels needs to widen the
genda of community engagement beyond
uality issues to include consideration
f policy, accountability, outcome and
responsibility.
As the agenda of improved social results
becomes clearer, government at all levels
needs to explore and experiment with new
ways of organising resources and effort
o deliver outcomes rather than simply to
eliver services.
Managers responsible for local public service
provision must articulate clearly and
requently the social outcomes they are
rying to produce for their communities.
Managers, local politicians and authority
members must engage the public regularly
and continuously in order to view the
changing state of social outcomes throughtheir communities eyes.
Local politicians and authority members,
managers and service professionals have to
develop knowledge, skills and more open
attitudes in order to engage in new ways of
listening to the public, new ways of learning
about community needs and new ways of
sharing ideas, challenges and solutions.
Local government should create communities
of social outcome, bringing together
perhaps two or three times a year all of
the agencies and people in one locale with
specific interests in an outcome and with
some of the wherewithal to help achieve it.
Public service organisations need practical
strategies to engage citizens and to build
active citizenship.
The way forward
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Building new connections
Citizens are demanding connections.They have complicated lives that presentinterconnected problems. But those problems
are not well-enough addressed by our too often
unconnected public services. Citizens do wantthe joined-up solutions that Government wishes
to promote. Joined-up services are required to
produce them.
Citizens also want to be connected themselves
to those services. They want to have more say and
a greater influence in the ways public services are
delivered. They are concerned about the quality
of public services and about the impacts those
services can have on their well-being. But citizens
are aware of their own responsibilities and their
own roles as well, not just in making services
better but also in building the strengths of local
communities.
These horizontal connections between services
and people are not enough, however. Citizens want
vertical connections too, between policy intent,
service implementation and results on the ground.
And they want to be able to see and understand
those vertical connections. They want transparency
and they want accountability.
Much needs to be done to build newconnections, at all levels of government and in
all parts of the community. To contribute to that
process, we ha