If Parliament wants to be trusted, it must trust the people

Parliamentary and constitutional reform remains the main focus of most efforts to improve government and make our democracy fit for the 21st Century. But while these efforts are important and have made a positive difference in the past, they are not on their own sufficient. To become a truly representative and relevant institution, Parliament must engage directly with citizens more, and think seriously about a genuine devolution of power says Simon Burall

Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security

NHS democracy: some ideas

The NHS has an annual budget which exceeds that of some democratic countries, but its oversight and accountability mechanisms are outdated and insufficient. Here, Simon Burall and Anthony Zacharzewski make the case for a new focus on involvement and participation, which could help the NHS to overcome a set of daunting long-term challenges

Power without accountability?

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:4195. 3362(1) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Global citizen deliberation on genome editing

No abstract available