Open Policy Making: A people-centred approach to transform UK local services
Open Policy Making is about recognising that top down thinking and decision making no longer can deliver the range of services that people and communities have come to expect in a connected society, writes William Barker, Head of Technology Strategy and Digital Futures at the UK Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). At its heart, he says, “it’s about broadening the range of people we engage with, using the latest tools and techniques and taking a more agile and iterative approach to policy making.”
Together DCLG and the Public Service Transformation Network have been taking a people and places centred approach that looks at how we can learn from service users, researchers, front line policy makers and practitioners as to how digital technology and approaches can make a positive difference.
With that perspective in mind, the team has been looking at issues such as digital inclusion, bringing a user-centred approach to service design and delivery, transforming older people’s lives through smarter working and digital solutions, and digitising government.
