Half the public don’t know and don’t care about Parliament - August 18 2011

Connecting Citizens to Parliament - research from the Hansard Society published today - demonstrates that half the public (52%) are not really interested in Parliament and do not want to be involved in what it does.

 

The research explores which communities and social groups are not engaging with Parliament, why and how this might be redressed. It concludes that connecting with ‘hard to reach' groups cannot be achieved by a sudden radical change of approach, but demands a number of smaller cumulative step-changes, many of which Parliament can initiate or suggest but cannot necessarily lead.

 

The Connecting Citizens to Parliament research is based on a quantitative survey of 2,005 adults and five qualitative semi-structured focus groups. It confirms that social class and age are the strongest determining factors for engagement. Barriers to engagement include:

• Parliament itself because of arcane traditions and the complexity of its processes and procedures
• The narrow range and overall lack of parliamentary coverage in the media
• Weaknesses in the delivery of political literacy education in schools, in the community and voluntary sector
• The dearth of informal learning opportunities through public libraries and social networks.

 

Connecting Citizens to Parliament identified the importance of face-to-face contact and the local area as key themes combined with the value of Parliament coming to the people rather than expecting people to come to Parliament and the necessity of placing information about Parliament in accessible places where citizens live out their daily lives. Recommendations for action include:

• Availability of easy-to-read information on Parliament's business and relevance to local life and topical issues in a number of different formats (print and digital)
• Wider engagement in third-party online spaces such as MumsNet and MoneySavingExpert.com
• Use of popular newspapers to advertise when public consultations are being held
• Development of a programme for trainee journalists to raise awareness of an interest in the work of Parliament
• Wider use of Citizen Juries and local meetings in order to feed back the public's views
• Development of a national network of educators/ambassadors at local and regional level who can actively disseminate information in their own community spaces and workplaces.

 

Dr Andy Williamson, Director of the Hansard Society's Digital Democracy programme, commented: ‘Parliament has done a lot of work to improve public awareness but is still only able to reach a fraction of the public. There remains a large group of citizens who don't know and don't care about Parliament. This can't be good for our democracy. Our recommendations for action involve not just Parliament but other vital players such as educationalists and the media who can take the lead in encouraging citizens to learn more about how Parliament affects their lives and what part they can play in its work' 

 

For further information, contact Virginia Gibbons, Head of Communications at the Hansard Society on 020 7438 1225 or mediaprog@hansard.lse.ac.uk

 

 Editors' Notes

• The Hansard Society is the UK's leading independent, non-partisan political research and education charity.
• The Hansard Society  Digital Democracy Programme's thought-leading research has been a formative part of an emergent digital Britain from the internet's impact on Parliament, to better government engagement with citizens and the potential for civil society to harness digital media. The Digital Democracy Programme undertakes research and produces publications and commentaries with a focus on online political communication and citizen engagement, exploring the many faces of digital inclusion, citizen engagement, political campaigning and parliamentary process.
• Connecting Citizens to Parliament survey was carried out online by ICM with a random sample of 2,005 adults (aged 18 or over) across Great Britain between August 25 and 26, 2010.
• Connecting Citizens to Parliament focus groups were held in Peterborough, Poplar, Nairn, Sheffield and Usk between April and August 2010.