Public participation in policymaking: exploring and understanding impact

Introduction

It is now well documented that, worldwide, there is increasing interest in participatory governance as a potential approach for statutory institutions to develop and implement policy (Bussu, Bua, et al., 2022; Warren, 2009). This has resulted in an international 'deliberative wave' (OECD, 2020), with many different iterations in citizen participation emerging across a variety of socio- political contexts (Elstub et al., 2019; Geissel & Newton, 2012; Smith, 2009). This includes experimentation with 'new or different ways' of engaging citizens in political decision-making (Smith, 2009), for example via collaborative governance arrangements, citizens assemblies or juries, participatory budgeting and wider participatory-deliberative processes, often termed 'democratic innovations' (Elstub & Escobar, 2019; Smith, 2009). This push for increased citizen participation is supported by a now relatively vast literature which details the potential benefits of opening up the decision-making doors to public input (Beresford, 2021; Elstub et al., 2019; Fishkin, 2018; Fung, 2004; Gastil & Levine, 2005).

There are often common arguments provided for the regular use of participatory- deliberative processes in the working of policymaking institutions. This includes:

• improving the reflexivity of governments (Bua, 2019), in the sense that public participation processes could increase the efficacy of decision-making via the pooling of multiple perspectives, knowledge types and expertise (Fung, 2015).
• increasing the responsiveness (Bua, 2019) or legitimacy of decision-making, and therefore the level of public trust in institutions (Fung, 2015), often underpinned by the normative belief that citizens have a fundamental right to be involved in decision- making processes which powerfully shape their lives (Dean, 2019).
• advancing social justice values (Bussu, Golan, et al., 2022; Fung, 2015), premised on the notion that policy programmes will ultimately produce more equitable outcomes if all those who will be affected by the outcomes are meaningfully involved in their design (Young, 2000).

Closely linked to the above, is the longstanding recognition that political participation of any kind is unequal (Lijphart, 1997), which leaves some groups 'politically rich' and others 'politically poor' (Dalton, 2017). Public participation is often positioned as a potential antidote to inequalities in influence by providing a mechanism for 'seldom heard' groups to feed into policy and decision-making spaces which might otherwise exclude them

(Lightbody & Escobar, 2021). Given the range of potential benefits on offer, it is perhaps not surprising that governments internationally are increasingly experimenting with democratic innovations and participatory governance.

Scotland has not been immune to this trend, indeed for the past two decades it has been in the midst of its own 'participatory turn' in policymaking (Bennett, 2022). Since the (re-)inception of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, public participation processes have become increasingly common components of decision-making processes at both a national and local level (Bynner et al., 2023; Escobar, 2022), supported by a series of legislative changes, which now either encourage or mandate citizen involvement across multiple policy domains (Escobar, 2022; Scottish Government, 2024). In their report to Scottish Government, the Institutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (IPDD) working group identified a raft of potential benefits of public participation, spanning across three key areas of life:

• People and communities
• Government
• Children and young people

Alongside 'improved outcomes' and the involvement of 'often unheard groups' (Scottish Government, 2022a), this report also cites (re)building of public trust in institutions, reduction in polarisation, supporting Ministers and elected members to 'take difficult decisions', as well as recognition of children and young people as 'rights holders' who will be impacted by policy decisions and 'the realisation of children's rights'. In addition, the report recognises the personal and community benefits which can arise from increased opportunities to participate in policy decision-making, including an 'increased sense of belonging and connectedness' as well as personal development around confidence, self- esteem, skills and citizenship (Scottish Government, 2022a).

In short, there are strong arguments for why Scottish Government might seek to institutionalise and embed participatory and deliberative processes within its decision- making. Indeed, in recent years, Scottish Government has embarked on a range of participatory innovations 'including two Citizens' Assemblies^[2], Citizens' Juries^[3], mini- publics^[4], user research, service design, lived experience panels^[5] and participatory budgeting^[6]' (Scottish Government, 2023, p.1). In addition, as part of Scotland's Open Government Commitments^[7], a Participation Handbook (Scottish Government, 2024) has been published to provide a toolkit and guidance for participatory work taking place within Scottish Government. It provides a framework to support the planning and delivery of participatory and engagement activities across different policy domains.

This research builds on that framework and seeks to explore how Scottish Government might better understand the impact of public participation on policy decision-making. As detailed above, there is a plethora of potential, and anticipated, benefits which may arise from increased citizen participation in policy decision-making, as well as lots of participatory activity already taking place across the organisation. Now is an opportune time to consider impact, to support the design and delivery of participatory engagements that are impactful and that are more likely to realise the benefits of public participation. Through a review of academic and grey literature along with stakeholder engagement, this study aims to answer the following questions:

• 1. How is impact conceptualised in literature related to public participation, and what are some practice examples?
• 2. How is impact conceptualised by stakeholders and what do they perceive as the current blockers, challenges or facilitators in a Scottish Government setting?
• 3. What evaluation tools or frameworks are used to evaluate the impact of public participation processes, and which ones might be applicable /usable in a Scottish Government setting?