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People to advise U.K. Government

Hasan Suroor

Their views will play an important part in devising Government strategies

Tony Blair

LONDON: The British Government is to pick up 100 "wise'' men and women from among ordinary people to help it make decisions that directly affect the public.

In what is seen as Prime Minister Tony Blair's parting gift to the electorate before his planned retirement sometime next year, Downing Street has announced plans to set up "people's panels'' to advise the Government on decision-making in a number of key policy areas including changes needed to boost the quality of life and improve public services.

Members of the panels, who will be selected by market research agencies, will be given Government papers on specific policies at regional workshops to be held in February before a "summit'' with Ministers and civil servants later in the year.

The members will be asked to imagine that they are policy-makers entrusted with the job of taking decisions on public interest issues. Their views will play an important part in devising Government strategies in key areas over the next decade. "This process of engagement will help provide a crucial road-map to the future,'' one senior official said hailing the move as a "major extension'' of the Government's efforts to engage the public in decision-making.

BBC reported one of Mr Blair's aides as saying: "It recognises that politics is changing, the public level of expectations is rising both in terms of the provision which they receive and the right which they have to influence those services. This engagement process will identify in more detail the areas which the public want us to focus on and develop a series of radical and progressive solutions."

Critics called it simply "old wine in new bottle'' pointing out that the idea was a rehash of the Labour Party's "Labour Listens Campaign'' which was also claimed to be an attempt to widen people's participation in policy-making.

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