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MANAGING RADIOACTIVE WASTE SAFELY

Chapter Six: Literature Review

6.1 The literature review presented in this chapter follows the structure of the preceding chapters. The chapter begins with an overview of findings from the literature on engaging the public in decision-making processes specific to radioactive waste management, exploring approaches, lessons and principles identified from the field. This is followed by an investigation of the processes involved in the broader field of public engagement, with a particular interest in current methods in use in Scotland.

Engaging the Public in radioactive waste management: overview

6.2 Recent research (Ferguson & Malina, 1999; Hunt & Wynne, 2000) related to consultation and involvement in issues around radioactive waste has highlighted the importance of engaging with the public at an early stage and the need for clear and concise information provided in a format appropriate to the audience. There is now considerable international experience in engaging with the public to develop radioactive waste management policy. The MWRS consultation document gives a useful overview of processes undertaken in other countries (DEFRA, 2001), while an independent analysis of the different approaches identifies the following lessons (Hunt et al, 2001:23):

• innovation in methods of dialogue and procedures for engagement
• public and stakeholder involvement in determining the guiding principles is increasingly seen as essential to legitimising the process
• the opportunity to deal with societal issues around radioactive waste management solutions is essential
• longer timescales for public engagement are now recognised as inevitable and necessary
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures are based on sound principles. In countries where EIAs have drawn upon wider societal values in the dialogue appear to have made more consistent progress (Finland and Sweden are cited as examples)
• site selection has to be part of a comprehensive package of actions tailored to the communities in question
• stakeholders, including the public, have brought valuable information, ideas and opinions to the decision-making process

6.3 These can be categorised under 3 headings, namely informing, consulting and involving stakeholders (including the public) in discussions about national policy development and in decision-making about siting arrangements. The experience of different national and local approaches demonstrates the varying criteria that distinct engagement processes require.

6.4 The public involvement experience of recent years has increased awareness of when and why the public is most likely to become engaged. These are issues considered as "close to home", of national relevance and involving a high enough degree of risk or resonance at the local level (Edwards, 2001; Hunt et al, 2001). If the subject is considered clearly relevant, there is a keener interest in becoming engaged. Although it is thought that the majority of members of the public only become motivated to become involved when the issue has clear local significance, members of the public taking part in this study demonstrated a high level of interest in whole population approaches to engagement, as well as specific engagement processes around siting decisions.

6.5 Before the 1990s, most public engagement work in the UK was based on standard consultation procedures. Increased interest and experience in local government and health authorities in public engagement has impacted on processes used to develop public involvement in radioactive waste management (Hunt et al, 2001). The combination of increased awareness of the range of methods, learning from processes in other sectors and international experience raises important questions about the purpose of engagement:

"Legitimacy follows on from transparency. If action is taken by agencies on the basis of process results, it will not be considered legitimate unless the processes themselves were conducted in as transparent a manner as possible. However, the process itself needs to judged as legitimate by the participants as well as wider audiences." (Hunt, 2001:10)

6.6 In developing processes that are considered legitimate, equal attention has to be given to the primary purpose and intended outcomes when choosing the methods to be used. This relates to previous findings that organising an engagement process reflects the underlying beliefs of those undertaking the process, about what people need to know and how this can be provided (Hunt, 2001). An engagement process, whether a paper-based exercise or a public discussion forum, that assumes all that is needed is the "right" information, and ignores alternative or conflicting arguments from others with an informed interest in the subject, can create a cynical response.

6.7 An evaluation of stakeholder involvement and public participation in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified similar issues to this research (January 2001). The EPA found that people may have difficulty in becoming involved in technical discussions because of a belief that they will be unable to influence outcomes significantly, or because they lack time to participate. Non-participation may be a cultural way of indicating opposition. The provision of information and its credibility may depend on whether the conclusions can be confirmed or reproduced by an outside source. The researchers also found that easy access to credible experts helped participants to become engaged, and that agency staff themselves required training in participation techniques. It was also suggested that care should be taken to ensure that the media understand partnership efforts and explain them to the community.

6.8 Experience in developing strategies for radioactive waste management is being used to develop the 'step-wise' decision-making approach which has been developed over the last few years with important considerations identified for the process of engagement (OECD, 2002). This identifies 3 principles of decision-making:

1. decision-making should facilitate social learning processes, by promoting interactions between various stakeholders and experts

2. constructive and high-quality communication should be facilitated between individuals with different knowledge, beliefs, interests, values and world-views

3. decision-making should be iterative and should provide for adaptation to contextual changes

This suggests some important implications for the most effective way of engaging with the public in managing radioactive waste safely in Scotland.

Engaging with the Public Overview

6.9 Literature on engaging with the public across a range of decision-making processes provides the basis of this section of the literature review. These findings are presented around the following themes that were discussed in Chapter 5:

• reasons for engagement
• purpose of engagement
• rules of engagement
• methods
• support and resources
• quality assurance

Reasons for engagement

"If values are socially embedded and must be interpreted in light of the realities to which they are applied, then the people who actually experience social problems must be given a voice in the analysis and development of policies which are intended to solve those problems. It is "their" reality, after all, which the policies are to address." (Donnison, 1994:31)

6.10 Experience of policy development at local level has increased awareness of the benefits of involving those whose lives will be changed by implementing policy. Effective decision-making is considered by decision-makers and those responsible for delivery of services (DETR, 1998, SOLACE, 1998, Scottish Office & COSLA, 1998) to be dependent on increased public awareness of issues and growing demand from policy-makers to engage the public. One element in the growth of public involvement in UK policy can be traced during the 1980s as part of the process of implementing policies based on a consumerist choice model of society (Taylor, 1988). A customer approach was fostered by the development of the Conservative Governments' local government policies during the 1980s and 1990s. The language of consumerism, of customers and clients, became an everyday part of local service delivery as local government's role was redefined to that of 'enabling authority', a commissioner rather than a provider of services (Brown & Elrick, 1999). A customer approach centres on individuals as service users, using primarily the consumer principles of access, information, choice, safety, redress and representation (Scottish Consumer Council, 1997).

6.11 These principles of consumerism provided the basis for policy developments in engaging with the public, underpinning increased activities in listening to, speaking to and becoming more accessible to the consumer. One element, however that created some confusion in the implementation of engagement processes was choice. It is argued that assumptions about choice - an individual's right to access services they need or to go elsewhere - proved to have some fundamental difficulties (Burns et al, 1994, Brown & Elrick, 1999). For example, customers have choice, taking their business to where they will get what they seek, while service receivers (in services like social work or housing) do not generally have the freedom to seek those services elsewhere. Generally during this period the emerging policies created a clear strand of public participation based on consumerist rights and values.

6.12 A second element of increased interest in public engagement in the policy process is concern about the democratic deficit highlighted by:

• the low turn out at elections
• a lack of public engagement in the political process
• a perception of sleaze in politics
• an identified need for a strong civic society to revive interest in representative democracy (Henderson & Salmon, 1998).

6.13 The consumerist principle of engagement is one part of the equation, for improving people's quality of life. It is important to focus not only on getting close to the consumer however, but also on the development of citizenship (Hambleton & Hoggett, 1990)

"Market research oversimplifies and complaints procedures isolate and individualise users. Joint committees expect user and community participants to understand and conform to organisational practices, without any introduction or explanation, and without any consideration for their needs and way of operating." (Taylor & McConnell, 1988:226)

6.14 At the beginning of the 21 ^st century, all levels of government have an interest in working more closely with citizens and their associations, seeking a greater input into decision-making, shaping policies for the future and delivering key services. In North America this has been organised at national level through the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA carried out a state source water assessment programme in one state in 1996, where groups of citizens chose the structure and the decision-making process of an agency sponsored citizen advisory committee. At a more local level, the City of Vancouver produced a guide entitled How to Participate in City Processes: A Guide for the Public, inviting the public to sit on a variety of advisory committees and boards that advise the city administration and set policy or direction in important services like the Police and the Library. There is a growing set of opportunities available for people to become engaged with policy makers in Scotland (see Methods of Engagement below). These vary from statutory processes where consultation is required, for instance in local planning, to organisations that have been established to represent views or lobby on issues.

6.15 As these new relationships have evolved; governments have increased their reliance upon the active contribution of citizens to making better decisions and achieving policy objectives. From this perspective, strengthening government relations with citizens represents a sound investment for tapping new sources of policy-relevant ideas and resources for implementation. Such efforts also make a major contribution to enhancing the transparency, openness and accountability of government (OECD 2001). The reason for engagement begins by establishing whether the public is to be engaged as citizens (the broad public interest) or consumers (service users).

Purpose of engagement

6.16 Despite the resurgence of interest in public engagement there are questions about whether it is an essential element of a democratic decision-making process (Donnison, 1994), an opening up of local democracy and consumer choice (Burns et al, 1996), an approach to empowering disenfranchised groups or a process that makes it easier for government agencies to implement programmes (Beierle, 1998). There is also an increasing global dimension to governmental decision-making. Decisions are open to public scrutiny and subject to direct and indirect pressure from citizens in other countries, notably via international media and the Internet. External observers will closely watch how they respond to such new influences when making policy decisions (OECD, 2001). A lack of trust in formal decision-making processes and in politics in general has also stimulated many of the developments in public engagement processes:

"One of the central themes [of modernising government] is that government will make policy by learning and not thinking it always has the right answer. By listening to, and learning from, people's views government is better able to provide the services that people want." (Cunningham, 1999: 1)

6.17 For others, engagement can be a legal requirement, or it can be undertaken for public relations/corporate social responsibility reasons. The purpose can be to influence decision-making where there are issues of genuine uncertainty. The purpose of engagement can be (Boyes et al, 2001):

• to inform the public of decisions that have already been made
• to ask for the public's views on decisions that are to be made
• to involve the public in discussions about what they feel are the issues and opportunities that need to be considered in the decision-making process
• to involve them directly in making decisions
• to influence the decision making process from outside the policy process

There is an underlying assumption at all levels of government that engagement processes will help better-informed and more legitimate decisions to be made (Armstrong, 1997, COSLA, 1998, Scottish Office, 1996).

6.18 The literature review identified the purposes of engagement across a range of processes. These varied from consultations, for instance on the development of National Parks in Scotland (Downie & Forsyth, 2001), to providing information on policy developments in order to seek views, for example by informing young people about the development of the Scottish Parliament and seeking their ideas and aspirations (Scottish Office, 1998). Other examples include approaches to establishing mechanisms for engagement in local authority services, in developing decentralisation (Elrick, 1999), members of the public identifying their own priorities and opportunities to inform decision-makers (McCormick, 1998) and jointly developing local solutions in partnership with decision-makers (Elrick, 1996).

Rules of engagement

6.19 There are some fundamental rules to be considered when an engagement process is initiated, to ensure that all participants have an understanding of how their engagement in the process will impact on decision-making. In the UK, a code of practice on written consultations by the Cabinet Office issued in 2001 highlights that post-consultation decisions should be made public promptly with a summary of views expressed (subject to respondents' requests for confidentiality) and clear reasons for rejecting options that were not adopted, offering an implicit set of rules of engagement. The Scottish Parliament has 4 founding principles that should have an impact on developing engagement processes in Scotland (Consultative Steering Group, 1999). These are:

• power sharing
• accountability
• openness and participation
• equal opportunities

6.20 There appears to be very little published evidence setting out the roles and responsibilities of consulting bodies and of those who actively participate. Evaluation instead tends to focus on how processes of involvement were used. Involvement in the decision-making process requires not only an open invitation to participate but also a forum for careful deliberation and a mechanism for incorporating the results of technical analyses (Gregory, 2000).

6.21 Use of the Internet as a means of involving the public is increasing and rules of engagement can generally be found early on in the process. However, these tend to be of a technical nature as specified in an electronic consultation study commissioned by the Scottish Executive (Smith & Macintosh, 2001) using a website address for e-consultation. This contained a clear statement on the conditions of use of the site and a clear statement on privacy.

6.22 Rules of engagement were identified in 3 of the international reports and 15 of the Scottish reports reviewed. These included the need for engagement to be open, inclusive, and not solely dependent on written or verbal skills of participants (Hallhead et al, 2001, Downie & Forsyth, 2001, Ritchie, 2001). Experience also indicated that using structures that already exist to inform and involve people can be an effective way of dealing with consultation fatigue (Scottish Office, 1998) and using the arts as a medium for engagement broadens the scope of the process (Elrick, 1998). It was also seen as important to work with issues that are of direct interest to participants (Elrick, 1996), as well as providing access to independent expertise as an important element of the process (McCormick, 2001). Finally those organising the engagement process should inform participants how they will be informed of the outcomes of their involvement (Scottish Executive, 2002).

Process dimensions of the Processes of Engagement

6.23 No consistent set of definitions is applied to ways of enabling the public to explore significant issues and express their views more effectively. "Engagement", "consultation", "involvement" and "participation" have tended to be used interchangeably, despite meaning different things to consulting bodies and those engaged in the process. The terms "stakeholder" and the "public" also cover a range of definitions. "Stakeholder" is typically used to mean everyone who has an interest in an issue, which could mean the population as a whole, those who are directly affected, or the institutional parties more closely involved (Hunt et al, 2001). Harris & Robinson (2000) suggest that members of the public are motivated to engage with issues rather than processes, and are best thought of as made up of 3 groups:

• those who have a stake and are aware of it
• those who have a stake but are not yet aware of it
• those with neither a stake nor an interest in the issue

6.24 Arnstein's ladder of participation identified 3 elements in engagement processes (Arnstein, 1971):

• non-participation, based on manipulation and therapy

• tokenism, based on information, consultation and placation

• citizens' power, based on partnership, delegated power and citizen control

6.25 This typology was adapted by Burns et al (1994) to focus on citizen non-participation, citizen participation and citizen control. Here non-participation includes cynical consultation, poor levels of information, customer care and civic hype, while genuine consultation and high quality information provision are positioned higher up the ladder as the starting points of citizen participation.

6.26 The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, (DETR, 2001) defined the process of public engagement on the basis of information provision, consultation, involvement and delegation (Martin, 2001). The OECD (2001) defined relations between government and citizens in policy-making as a broad spectrum of interactions at each stage of the policy-making cycle including information (a one-way relationship), consultation (a two-way relationship) and active participation (a dynamic relationship based on partnership).

6.27 Underlying assumptions about the outcomes of engagement will have an impact on the processes chosen (Boyes et al, 2001). The purpose of any engagement process needs to be clarified if it is to be effective (Brown & Elrick, 1999). If there is an assumption that the public only needs to be informed about why a decision has been taken, then the information provided will be the basis of a one-way relationship (Hunt et al, 2001). Those who may feel that they wish to influence decisions in some way are likely to be frustrated if the process has not been designed to allow this.

6.28 These models identify the importance of defining the purpose of the engagement, deciding where it sits on the spectrum from informing to joint decision-making and from there determining the suitability of various approaches. This will allow the organisation carrying out the engagement to clarify the scope for public and stakeholder involvement, and to be explicit about the role of participants in the decision-making process. Consistency in language is also important to ensure that everyone can understand what is being proposed and why, the role of each participant, how decisions will ultimately be reached and by whom (Laird et al, 2000).

6.29 The World Bank (1995) defines "participation" as a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, decisions and resources that affect them. Another view expressed by Hunt et al (2001) suggests that participation involves the transfer of ultimate power for decision-making from the responsible institution to the public.

6.30 Public engagement processes will fail if the participants expect to influence decisions and actions through a process that is not designed for this purpose. If establishing trust is one of the main aims of public engagement it is important that processes reflect this. Some methods of engagement seek to address the issue of "commonly shared norms" by starting to define them as an integral part of the process.

Methods of engagement

Engagement at local authority level

6.31 A unitary local authority system was established in Scotland in 1996, with 32 local authorities that were required to develop decentralisation schemes as a result of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994. Guidance produced by the Scottish Office (1996) identified the positive outcomes from decentralisation as:

• enhancing local democracy and accountability
• promoting closer communication
• encouraging public participation and joint ownership of problems and solutions;
• enhancing the role of the elected representative
• generally promoting improved effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery and council functioning

6.32 Local authorities identified information provision, access to services and engagement in decision-making processes as essential elements of decentralisation with a resulting growth of a variety of structures for engaging the public at local authority level (Elrick, 1999). The introduction of Best Value ²⁴ in 1997 required "customer and citizen involvement" in service evaluation, using many of the decentralisation initiatives to engage the public, (Brown & Elrick, 1999), while Community Planning ²⁵ (Rogers et al, 2000) requires a significant element of public consultation and the production of material for information and explanation purposes. The development of the Community Planning process has the potential for significantly increasing public engagement across a range of services, with the Local Authority leading and Health services, the Police and the Local Enterprise Company on the majority of Community Planning Partnerships (COSLA, 2001). Policy and practice that focuses on engaging with the public has been widespread. Empowering Communities (Scottish Executive, 2000) provided resources to support community participation in Social Inclusion Partnerships ²⁶, while the Scottish Executive funded Learning Together Working Together a national training and development programme for SIP partners across the country. The Working for Communities programme engaged with local communities in 11 pathfinder areas to explore new ways for delivering services (Scottish Executive, 2000). The lessons from public engagement since 1996 have been used to develop a range of approaches at local and national level (COSLA, 2002).

6.33 Processes for engagement have been established as a significant factor in local authority decision making over the last decade. As a result, a variety of local structures have been developed to help inform and involve people in these processes. These include:

• Area Committees, generally made up of local ward councillors although some also have community participants
• Area and Neighbourhood Community Forums, which can include councillors, community councillors, representatives from local business and community organisations
• Community Forums, working with communities of interest generally across the whole council area, for instance Community Council forums, Community Care Forums and Youth Forums

6.34 There has also been an increase in methods used to inform the public and improve access for service users and citizens, for instance the production of A-Z directories about council services, newsletters, freephone services, services on-line and a growing commitment to producing information in plain English, community languages and alternative formats.

Community representation

6.35 There are just under 1200 community councils in Scotland, involving around 12,000 people (Elrick, 1995), established by statute (Local Government Scotland Act, 1973) although not statutory bodies. Their remit creates a responsibility to:

• ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the local authorities for its area and to other public authorities the views of the community which it represents, in relation to matters for which those authorities are responsible
• take such action in the interests of that community as appears to it to be expedient and practicable

6.36 Community councils are dependent on their parent local authority for funding, and there are large disparities between them. Research in the late 1990s found that some community councils received under 100 per annum to perform their role, while others received over 5000 (Elrick & Macintosh, 1999). The role they play at local level is often linked more directly to planning decisions than representing their communities. In some areas, however, they have been working to ascertain community views and at local authority and national (Scotland) level to try and influence decisions (Elrick, 1995). Local community groups and voluntary activities can provide scope for local people to participate in decision-making and negotiation of policy priorities in some areas (Hallhead et al, 2001).

6.37 One product of this activity identified in some communities is "consultation fatigue" because they are being consulted on an increasing number of issues and plans (Rogers et al, 2000). Another is confusion about the purpose of engaging the public. Engaging people as customers suggests a different set of criteria compared with engaging them as citizens (Brown & Elrick, 1999).

Membership organisations

6.38 The Scottish Civic Forum is a national membership organisation that seeks to reflect and represent the views of its 350-400 member organisations (Civic Forum, 2002). These vary from community council members, to local authority wide representative groups (for instance local civic assemblies) and issue based groups. The forum receives support funding from the Scottish Executive.

6.39 Similar national representative bodies, such as the Association of Scottish Community Councils, which represents over 50% of the community councils in Scotland, also receive some funding from the Executive (ASCC, 2002).

6.40 The Scottish Youth Parliament is made up of 14-25 years olds, with 3 categories of membership, 2 per Scottish Parliamentary constituency, 2 per national youth voluntary organisation and individuals can self-nominate. There are 228 members in total. It is Europe's only wholly youth led parliament and is an independent voluntary organisation which receives core funding from the Scottish Executive. It works with an extensive network of local co-ordinators drawn from Connect Youth, which enables a socially inclusive approach to enabling participation from a range of young people across Scotland.

6.41 Representative groups of voluntary sector organisations also play a role at national and local level. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is made up of a membership of voluntary sector organisations, while at local authority level the 50 Local Councils for Voluntary Services (CVS) are membership organisations providing support and development services to voluntary sector organisations. The CVS network links into SCVO.

6.42 There are also 55 Volunteer Centres; these are membership organisations developing opportunities to volunteer, which are members of their national organisation, Volunteer Centre Scotland. Volunteer Development Scotland provides a national membership organisation for volunteer based organisations.

6.43 Issue based membership organisations also play an important role in the life of civic Scotland, for instance Community Care Scotland is a membership organisation for those involved in the community care sector in Scotland, while the Independent Living Movement is made up of people with disabilities to lobby for change across the UK.

6.44 At national (Scottish) level these organisations aim to identify and represent their members' views. They can also provide a mechanism for consultation and involvement in national decision-making processes (as demonstrated by the group of community activists recruited for this study in Stirling).

International examples

6.45 The use of People's Panels ²⁷ is advocated by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD), which recently (2001) recommended that the provincial governments of Canada should establish a Panel of Citizens that would oversee the process of engaging citizens in decision-making. Panel members would be selected "on the basis of merit, not political patronage". A benefit of this approach would be to help ensure that governments do not revert to traditional "tell-and-sell" consultation, simply re-labelled as "public engagement". The CCSD distributed the report to key Canadian decision-makers within and outside government.

6.46 The Danish Board of Technology has recently introduced a method called "Future Search Conference", first developed in the USA. This method is described as suitable for finding common goals and actions in a situation of gridlock and inaction. Instead of facilitating a debate about the controversies and vested interests, it focuses on finding some visions that the groups can all accept, and from this common ground then develops action plans to create the agreed visions (Gram & Kluver, 2001). In developing the environmental and health protection strategy of the Ukraine, a video of the consultation process was made and aired on television on more than one occasion with the aim of informing the whole population (NEHAP, 2001).

E-governance

6.47 While new technologies have increased the capacity of governments to engage with the public, they have also raised citizens' expectations with regard to the scope, quality and speed of government response (OECD, 2001). The introduction of digital or electronic governance (Nath, 2000) aims to ensure that the public can be part of decision-making processes that affect them directly or indirectly. The Internet has the potential to allow a large number of people to communicate on-line with each other as well as with consulting bodies, increase participation in decision-making and create new networks among citizens (Beierle & Cahill, 2000).

6.48 Governments and agencies across the globe are moving towards Internet usage as a means of informing and consulting. This raises issues about access to Information Communication Technology (ICT), with the possibility of some people becoming more excluded from decision-making processes. Scandinavian countries continue to lead Europe in the proportion of individuals online, although access in the UK is ahead of much of Europe (Netvalue, 2001). The OECD among others have identified the need to devote more attention and resources to bridging the 'digital divide' and ensuring the quality of on-line information, consultation and participation is raised in future . The Scottish Executive's vision for a digitally connected and inclusive Scotland, which supports access to digital technologies and Web facilities for all people (Digital Scotland) goes some way towards preparing for greater effective use of technology to engage the public. A breakdown by Government, Commercial and Educational activity over a six-month period on various websites (Mitchell, 2001) suggests that government websites have significantly lower levels of usage than the others.

6.49 In the UK, all Government departments now use the Web as a means of posting information to enable organisations and citizens to contribute to consultation processes. The Government's Citizen Space (accessed through ukonline ) was created alongside the UK's new government portal, ukonline.gov.uk. It was decided from the outset that it should have space for citizen-to-government as well as citizen-to-citizen interaction. Its main purposes are:

• to provide a gateway to government consultations
• to facilitate public discussion of policy issues
• to offer useful political and civic information that can help citizens navigate government
• to create a space for e-democracy

6.50 Citizen Space has the potential to become a useful resource for citizens' interaction with government and with one another. Access to information from the Scottish Executive and local authorities is available through websites. Interactive approaches have been used to enhance the design and range of the information available.

6.51 When judging the impact of ICT, several governments have reported to the OECD that its use has led to much higher levels of feedback from citizens - for instance in Japan and Spain. At the same time, governments in Norway and Switzerland have found that their contact with citizens has become faster and less formal. Some governments have started to expand existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks in order to support the use of ICT. Policy frameworks also concentrate on the general aspects of ICT use. Some treat the issue as part of policies on e-government (Korea and Norway) or within policies on the modernisation of public services (France).

6.52 In some countries, policy frameworks also refer directly to government-citizen relations. For example, the Danish Minister of Education holds an on-line discussion once a week; the European Union offers occasional open, multilingual chats with Commissioners; and the governments of Finland and Canada have created virtual workspaces in the form of on-line working groups, with virtual libraries and archives for citizens to engage with government in policy-making. The Canadian federal government has created a specific web site for this purpose, in co-operation with partner organisations representing citizens the government seeks to involve.

6.53 The purpose of public engagement is an important consideration when developing e-governance processes. The Internet provides a means for people to raise issues, access services or relevant information. It can assist service development and standards of customer care. However, the promise of the Internet is emphasised more than consistent achievements in practice. If the Internet is to effectively assist public engagement in decision-making, it is important to remember that it is a tool for engagement rather than a process. Internet-based approaches need commitment from senior decision-makers to enhance the quality of feedback and to raise expectations. Without a clear context and understanding of what web-based engagement is designed to achieve, new technology risks being a tool for low levels of deliberation. Continued reliance on conventional methods of consultation through hard copy or web-based materials makes inclusion difficult for those facing literacy and language barriers. A range of approaches is emerging to enable information to encourage broader participation, in addition to traditional consultation methods.

Resources for engagement

6.54 Research on local authority approaches to young people's involvement in decision-making (Edwards, 2001) has identified the importance of training programmes for those taking part. This echoes findings in Scotland that area committee's participants benefit from training and support programmes, in some cases including officers and councillors (Elrick, 1999). Time is also an essential element for engagement to enable the process to develop (Hunt et al, 2001). This recognition of the importance of enabling participants to engage effectively was identified as an important aspect of improving the quality of future public dialogue about radioactive waste management during the STEP-wise process in Finland (OECD, 2001).

6.55 When undertaking any kind of engagement exercise it is important to consider the most appropriate method (s) and identify the resources required. This includes time, money, and people. Recent examples from 'Engaging Communities: Directory of Examples from Practice' (COSLA, 2001) aimed to identify the resource requirements of undertaking various engagement processes ²⁸.

6.56 Time is also an essential element for engagement. Time to enable the process to develop (Hunt et al, 2001); this includes a time commitment from participants. This recognition of the importance of enabling participants to engage effectively was identified as an important aspect of improving involvement in future discussions about radioactive waste management during the STEP-wise process in Finland (OECD, 2001).

Quality assurance

6.57 Engaging with the public initiates a process of change that ought to result in an ongoing review of the consultation process itself, creating an iterative process with review stages built in (Hunt & Wynn, 2000). Very little is known about the impact of consultation and engagement processes. An OECD (2001) analysis suggests none of its member states currently conducts a systematic evaluation of government performance in providing information, undertaking consultation and engaging citizens in policy-making, and that it is not only governments which fare poorly - there was little evidence to suggest that government agencies or other institutions fare any better.

6.58 Recent figures published by the IPPR (2001) indicate that fewer than one in 3 authorities evaluate the impact of their initiatives to engage young people in decision-making. Over three-quarters of authorities are working with young people to involve them in decisions, but less than one-third (30%) evaluate the quality of the process or the impact. Similar results come from others who have considered the impact of their activities. The EPA in the United States outlined the need for performance measures to ensure its public involvement is effective and proposes the need for standard evaluation criteria and performance measure that evaluators can draw upon.

6.59 The government of Finland undertook a national survey on consultation and participation activity, which showed a potentially significant gap in expectations. Although Government Ministries were happy with the current situation, citizens were less enthusiastic. This has led to a review of how consultation should take place in the future, including the development of new strategies to include consultation and participation processes at the drafting stage of policy, and training for civil servants involved in the process (OECD, 2001)

6.60 An evaluation was undertaken on the consensus conferences on genetically modified food in Norway (Morkrid, 2001). However, this was concerned with the process and did not look at impacts on decision-making by government, or the benefits versus the costs of the consensus conference model.

6.61 A review of information on the environment in the United States (Reeder, 2001), with a focus on reviewing information leading to citizen participation in government, concluded that technology has increased access for citizens and NGOs, and heightened the need for NGOs and others to help individuals and groups understand and interpret the greater volume of information more easily available.

6.62 According to the review ' What sort of Scotland do we want to live in?' (Smith & Macintosh, 2001), e-consultation provides the opportunity for deliberative participation. However, the authors caution that it should not be viewed as a one-way process to gather opinions, but instead as a two-way process designed to support other opinion gathering events, which should clearly link to one another.

6.63 The relative lack of evaluation may also have an impact on how participants on all sides engage in the process. Evaluation allows the sponsor to construct the process in a way that defines the roles and terms of engagement for other participants (Estrella, 2000).

Summary of key points - Literature on radioactive waste management

Summary of key points - Engagement Literature

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