Previous Consultations

Towards Connected Places: Insights Into Actions

The Society for Innovation, Technology and Modernisation consultation looked at enabling and empowering place-based leadership and transformation in an era of turbulent times, devolution, climate change and emerging technologies. Participants shared insights as to what works, what needs to change, and the actions needed to bring about place-based social, environmental, economic and technological progress.

The aim being to help the Socitm Institute establish a policy into a practice framework that will help turn insights into practical actions, support the delivery of connected places as imagined in Socitm’s 2021 post covid-regeneration consultation report Resilient people, communities and places.

The intention being to use the framework to help to develop Place-based leadership capabilities built around the effective use of data insights to enable social progress, the responsible use of artificial intelligence, the championing of sustainability and net zero agendas, together with the wider enabling of citizen and community engagement.

Senior figures from Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies (PSRBs) gathered to highlight the case for a reformed curriculum centred on the climate emergency and identify and showcase effective practice; encourage collaboration to accelerate better climate education; agree meaningful next steps. There is considerable demand from industry, educators and students for climate solutions to be woven into all subjects, from GCSE and above, and the Department for Education is also aiming for the UK to have a “world-leading education sector in sustainability and climate change by 2030.

Off-campus there is much talk about free speech on campus, and we now have a new 2023 Higher Education Act that emphasises the immense value of free speech in our liberal democracy.  Yet both on campus and off it, much public talk about free speech is marred by negative approaches and behaviours. We must therefore work out how to turn this free speech debate into positive and productive action. If universities are to avoid squandering their collective responsibilities to future generations, we must, first, relearn how to discuss openly and in trust the human bonds that hold us together; second, accept and manage disagreement better; and third, involve academic and student voices actively in democratic processes to build a more just world for ourselves, our communities, and our institutions. Working with Professor Alison Scott-Baumann of SOAS, this Consultation will review new initiatives for working towards these goals, including developing trust, managing complex topics productively, disagreeing well, and taking university expertise out into the real world, to Westminster and beyond.

How do we generate a political culture that puts nation before party? How do we energise the electorate to take serious cognisance of their civic responsibility as voters? Why cannot our government operate as collaborative problem-solvers, putting the long-term needs of the nation ahead of those of their parties? Is it that we have the wrong politicians, or are these issues inherent in our parliamentary system and first-past-the-post electoral process? In short, how might we do things better?

From Polarisation to Collaboration: Rethinking Political Culture explored these issues by bringing together a cross-sectional mix of senior politicians, civil servants, and creative minds from business, media and academia. This initial Consultation took as its starting point electoral reform, civic engagement, parliamentary procedures and the role that media plays in connecting those who vote with those who govern.

Our Consultation had a its starting point the question, ‘What sort of NHS do we as a nation want?’ Using cancer care as our template, we brought together thought leaders from across society to help us shape the future of health care in this country. Change will require innovative thinking. It will require a willingness to think laterally about and learn from good practice in other sectors and internationally. This is not a time for tinkering at the edges of the problem. This is time for a radical rethink of our approach to cancer care and, by extension, to health care in general in the UK.

Shared experiences across generations are amongst the most enjoyable, enriching and memorable. Yet until now there has been no single point where the value of intergenerational activity is supported. Intergenerational practice should be recognised as a central pillar and foundational building block of society, essential for creating stronger and more connected communities for the long term. Nurturing this type of collaboration can lead to increased empathy, understanding, mutual respect and appreciation for different perspectives, as well as a stronger sense of belonging and social connectedness. The Consultation looked at how intergenerational practice can respond directly to local and national agendas, addressing societal issues such as ageism, social isolation, and inequality.

This year marks 25 years since the publication of the Social Exclusion Unit’s groundbreaking report ‘Bringing Britain together: a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal.’ This kickstarted New Labour ‘s approach to tackling place-based disadvantage through its neighbourhood renewal strategy, providing the basis for a raft of policies and programmes supporting resident-led regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods. Generally regarded as successful on their own terms, subsequent governments failed to build on their momentum and deliver on the strategy’s long-term ambition that “that within 10 to 20 years no- one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live.”

We used this consultation to bring together diverse perspectives from senior policy experts, practitioners, community leaders and parliamentarians to explore the case for a new focus on deprived neighbourhoods; to discuss the learning from previous initiatives and map out the government action and targeted interventions that should be taken to turn them around.

This consultation was held in partnership with Local Trust.

AI Threats & Opportunities – Final Report

We are entering an age of artificial intelligence (AI). Although the term “artificial intelligence” was coined nearly 70 years ago, and AI has been making tremendous technical and market progress for more than a decade, there has been a huge leap in perceived possibilities and public attention to AI in the past year. However, the many benefits of AI are not without substantial risks, and these risks have become increasingly apparent with the development and spread of Large Language Models. It was the aim of this Consultation to discuss those risks and consider approaches to engaging with and mitigating them.

The Forces in MindTrust exists to enable ex-Service personnel and their families to make a successful and sustainable transition to civilian life. FiMT delivers this mission by generating an evidence base that influences and underpins policy-making and service delivery, and by strengthening the Armed Forces charities sector through collaboration and leadership, and by building its capacity.

The quality of people entering public life is crucial for Britain’s future success. We worked with Civic Future to bring a cadre of their recently selected Fellows to the House to begin their year-long fellowship. The weekend featured an introduction to the programme as well as detailed discussion of extreme long-term risks such as pandemics, nuclear war, population decline, and artificial general intelligence. The intention is to establish a new talent pipeline to attract brilliant and inspirational people from various backgrounds and support them to become public leaders.