What Public Engagement Should Look Like

Make these potentially complicated and abstract technologies understandable for those targeted by engagement activities. Show how their use is relevant to people’s lives.

a. Provide examples, and stories, to make the topic real for people. Show real-world impacts that matter to people.

b. Focus on the opportunities these technologies open up, as well as the risks.

c. Meet people where they are in terms of their current knowledge and attitudes. Many people are distrusting of these technologies, and of public sector bodies.

d. Use plain English, and explain key terms from the outset.

e. Enable residents to question information and develop their understanding.

f. Use creative methods to help messages resonate.

g. Think carefully about how much participants need to know about how these systems work, including the data used and how tools are trained. Some forms of involvement will need more knowledge than others.

Design proportionate engagement activities to reach a wide range of people who may be affected by these technologies.

a. Value different forms of expertise, including the lived experience of those using services.

b. Be mindful that some groups are less likely to be heard from without carefully targeted engagement.

c. Be mindful that historically marginalised groups, and those facing intersectional disadvantage (where different forms of disadvantage co-exist and interact) may be most at risk from simplistically designed automated systems, and are important to reach out to.

d. Be aware that digitally excluded individuals have an important stake in how these tools are used and may not engage without efforts to translate this topic into something that resonates with them.

e. Remember that people working within the public sector are themselves a diverse group with a stake in how technologies are used, who may be important to engage with.

Tailor engagement towards target audiences.
Support communities to advocate for themselves.

a. Make good use of existing networks. Work with trusted partners, including networks within the Voluntary, Community, Faith, and Social Enterprise sector. Make appropriate use of existing points where residents interact with services.

b. Use spaces where residents feel safe and confident to speak up, discuss, and question.

c. Support people to grow the skills and confidence needed to advocate for themselves and their communities, including growing awareness of these technologies, their legal rights and opportunities to have a say.

d. Make smart use of incentives to encourage participation.

e. Provide facilities such as childcare or sign language interpreters where relevant to ensure everyone can take part.

Set clear expectations of how insights from public engagement will be considered and responded to.
Publish clear responses to points raised. Make clear what will change based on what was heard.

a. Make clear how feedback and insights from public engagement will be considered and responded to before engagement activities begin. Set clear expectations around what this might affect.

b. Provide clear public responses to points raised that show how these have been considered, what decision has been reached, and the reasoning behind it.

c. Be mindful that when it comes to identifying unfairness, the substance of what one person raises may be more significant than the views of a hundred.

Use an appropriate mix of different ways of hearing from, or working with, residents. Consider how different approaches will provide residents with different levels of influence or control.

a. Do not limit all public engagement to either broadcasting information or asking for feedback.

b. Consider listening to hopes and fears around these technologies in a more open-ended way.

c. Where possible, create spaces for genuine conversation, where people can get answers at the time rather than having to rely on long-winded back-and-forths.

d. Explore opportunities to design how automated decision-making systems are used in partnership with service-users, applying principles of co-production.