- Social
Partnerships. Such partnerships may take any
form between a loose sense of co-operation
between a wider variety of groups in society to a
highly specific institutional structure bringing
together government, business and labour. Models
may be "corporatist" in that a formal
relationship is established between government
(usually the Executive) and interest groups.
Other more fluid, "pluralist" models
involve groups operating outside the formal
structure of power to influence the decision
making process.
- Consensus
Conferences. Such conferences aim to both
inform and consult with citizens by incorporating
the perspectives of lay members of civil society
within the assessment of new scientific and
technological developments. A forum of lay people
question experts about a controversial scientific
or technological subject, assesses the experts'
responses, reaches consensus about the subject
and reports its conclusions at a press
conference.
- Citizens' Juries.
These brings together a group of randomly chosen
citizens to deliberate on a particular issue
(either the setting of a policy agenda or the
choice of particular policy options). Over a
number of days the jury hears evidence and cross
examines witnesses with the help of trained
moderators. Following their deliberations, the
jury produces a decision or provides
recommendations in the form of a citizens'
report, obliging some form of response from the
department, local authority, or agency.
- Deliberative
Opinion Polling. Here a national random
sample of between 250 and 600 citizens is brought
together to discuss and debate a particular
issue. Balanced briefing material is provided and
citizens can question competing experts and
politicians. At the end of the process and after
group discussion, citizens are polled in detail.
- Citizens' Panels.
There are two kinds of citizens' panels: research
panels, which use a large sample of a local
population as a sounding board to track changes
in opinion over time, and standing panels, which
are made up of a stable sample of citizens
representative of an area's population. The panel
meets regularly to assess local services and
develop views about future needs and goals, and
may be used to test specific policy options or
proposals or to scrutinise policy implementation.
- Public Petitions.
A system of public petitions allows a group of
members of the public to indicate their support
for a particular cause by gathering signatures
which are then presented to the legislature, who
may be obliged to take a particular course of
action.
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- The European
Rapporteur system. A "rapporteur"
may be appointed within a Committee for a
particular issue on which the Committee is
deliberating. The rapporteur has final
responsibility for signing the report which the
Committee presents to the Plenary, but also acts
as a focal point for interest groups and
individuals who wish to make representations to
the Committee.
- Expert Panels.
In deliberating on a particular matter, a
Committee may wish to set up one or more expert
panels where non-members of the Parliament are
invited to feed into the Committee's work by
advising on areas where they hold expertise. Such
a system would be similar to the support provided
to CSG by the three Expert Panels.
- Advisory and
Consultative Council (ACC). This idea is
based around the idea of an independent body to
which civic organisations would appoint
representatives. The ACC would form itself into
Committees and would have Parliamentary funding
and base itself within the old Royal High School.
In this way, the ACC would become a forum for
consultation and could also provide expert advice
to the Executive and the Parliament and its
Committees.
- Recognition of
particular forums - eg Civic Forum or a
Business Forum, which the Executive might be
obliged to consult. These could be
"official" or "unofficial" as
preferred. At the official end of the scale, the
bodies might receive some funding from the
Parliament.
- Appointment of
specialist advisors. Select Committees in the
UK Parliament already use this mechanism, with
both short and long-term appointments.
- Co-option of
non-MSPs. Committees could co-opt non-voting
members, for particular items of business.
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