Problems and Purpose

The “People’s Panel” was meant to measure public opinion on various public issues from transportation, local government and democracy, to leaflets on genetically modified foods. They were able to conduct interviews, focus groups, and to seriously consider a variety of topics, until the panel's dissolution.

Background History and Context

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

By 2001, the People’s Panel had cost about £12,112,735. It was dissolved in 2002.

Participant Recruitment and Selection

A trial was run first with 353 people to test participation, and organizers found that there was a difficulty recruiting younger people. This was taken into account when the final panel was conducted. Around 5000 members of the public were used to consider a variety of decisions. They were chosen to represent the population in terms of age, location, and gender. They also recruited over 800 people that balanced the representation of ethnic minorities.

Methods and Tools Used

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

It was considered too costly and government judged that individual departments were doing enough of their own consultation work for it not to be necessary anymore. It was disbanded in 2002. Its effect, if any, on policy prior to that is unclear. There were annual reports written on results from the panel.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

See Also

References

External Links

Notes

This entry is based on the POLITICIZE dataset. More information can be found at the following links:

• Paulis, Emilien; Pilet, Jean-Benoit; Panel, Sophie; Vittori, Davide; Close, Caroline, 2020, "POLITICIZE Dataset", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Z7X6GT, Harvard Dataverse, V1
• Pilet J-B, Paulis E, Panel S., Vitori D & Close C. 202X The POLITICIZE Dataset: an inventory of Deliberative Mini-Publics (DMPs) in Europe. European Political Science.