If you spend any time at all trawling around the web you inevitably encounter a lot of comment about consultation and engagement. In the public sector, this triggers an immediate tension between what we have historically delivered and the huge potential we see for online channels to deliver the sorts of outcomes that would justify the hype. Over the last couple of years, I think that we have begun to see some of that potential realized. This week, we moved a step closer.
On Wednesday, Sam Farrow from Inland Revenue let me know that a project that he and his team had been toiling away at for months had gone live: the IRD Student Loans Consultation Forum.
As it says on the home page,
The government is considering changes to the way Inland Revenue administers the collection of student loans. The aim is to make it simpler and easier for borrowers to manage their accounts.
The main idea is to have everything web-based. This means you will be able to check your loan balance when it suits you, saving time and hassle, a bit like accessing your bank account online.
[...]We would like you to take part in this forum and let us know how the changes will affect you. We’ll keep your comments in mind when we make formal recommendations to government ministers on the detail of the changes.
This strikes me as exactly the sort of approach to public engagement that agencies should be considering. Yes, there are some (very limited) risks associated with this sort of open and transparent consultation but the terms of use make it clear that these risks have been considered and are being actively managed. The point is that IRD are actively engaging the people who will be directly affected by any policy changes and inviting their input into the process.
As Peter Shergold said at DevCon last week:
…users of government services have no sense of ownership of the services they receive.
(my notes)
Shergold went on to say that government’s can no longer operate on the assumption that the people it serves are ‘customers,’ as customers have a choice. We are here to serve citizens, and they best way to serve them is to ask them what it is they want — or, if they do not have a choice about the what, how they would like to be served.
Of course, this requires the sort of genuine, and potentially difficult engagement that is real consultation.
If you have any doubts, have a look at the quality of the contributions to date. The forum has only been up for three days, so there is not a huge amount of discussion, but what there is is thoughtful, direct and, occasionally, very entertaining. Exactly what you would expect from the people that IRD is seeking to consult on this issue.
Email and text would be great. Your phone system is currently a joke, so alternative channels would be nice.
Do stuff online? Sure. Just make sure I can do “everything” online, in one place, with one username and password. Dont bounce me around from product to product and if you guys already have the info, then why oh why do I have to type it in again?
Turn off the paper? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease. If I want a statement Ill come get one. If I get something wrong at the end of the year, I expect you guys will tell me anyway.
Save some trees. Be good to your mother. Tips to live by.
OzboiNZ
In my view, IRD should be congratulated for giving the people they serve some of that sense of ownership. Let’s hope that their example serves to encourage other agencies to take the next step.
Demos, the UK think tank, this week published a pamphlet on the impact of social networks in the workplace. Called 