Edward Andersson & Simon Burall, Involve

1. Making the business case for public engagement Picture CC: Some rights reserved By: mconnors Edward Andersson & Simon Burall, Involve

2. “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Oscar Wilde

3. Introduction Picture CC: Some rights reserved By: mconnors

4. About • Registered Charity (nr. 1130568) • Focus: Public and stakeholder engagement • Works with: Central & local government. Health organisations, NGOs and International Organisations • www.involve.org.uk

6. Sciencewise-Expert Resource Centre Sciencewise Expert Resource Centre for Public Dialogue in Science and Technology (ERC) Funded by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) It aims to help policy makers commission and use public dialogue to inform policy decisions in emerging areas of science and technology Launched in 2008 To help improve policy-making in science and technology through the use of public dialogue and engagement 6

7. What public dialogue costs – in context • Nanodialogues project (2006) cost £240,000 and explored nanotechnology &upstream engagement over 26 months. Value of nano research in 2007 was estimated to be about $12 billion; and the value of nano-enabled products was estimated then to be around $50 billion The scale of investment in dialogue projects is dwarfed by the scale of the policy fields that dialogue has influenced

8. What not doing public dialogue can cost • Overall, the costs of not doing public dialogue can far outweigh the costs of the dialogue. For example: • • public opposition can delay or entirely prevent continuing policy development, innovation and new technologies • • conflict and entrenched positions can result in the complete rejection of new technologies. • "If you think dialogue is expensive, try conflict”

9. Getting Started Picture CC: Some rights reserved By: mconnors

10. What we’ll cover • Introduction  • Questions and answers • Introducing the tool   • Exercise • Plenary Disucssion

11. Examples of Engagement • Science Policy Dialogue • Science Festival • Community Outreach • Community Jury • Co-creation of Research

12. Business Case ‘At the end of the day the most important question you need to tackle isn’t the ‘what’ but the ‘why’.  You need to be able to articulate a compelling rationale for engagement that convinces your colleagues.’  Paul Younger -University of Newcastle

13. Research vs. Business case Research Business case Practical Incomplete As much time as you have Good enough • Academic • Complete • Time consuming • Truth

14. In short... Understanding can be greatly enhanced but evidence will always be incomplete.

15. Plenary discussion • Any questions? • What are challenges of valuing engagement? • What are benefits of valuing engagement?

16. Getting results Picture CC: Some rights reserved By: mconnors

17. Using the Involve Toolkit

18. Exercise • In groups identify how you might value the costs and benefits of a particular engagement project using the tool. • Ideally a ‘live’ project; however, it could also be a ‘dummy’ project.

19. Exercise • Define the focus and purpose • Decide what to measure • Complete the checklist and chart • Analyse the results and ‘test’ with other groups

20. Stage 1 - Scope the business case • Decide how you will use the toolkit • Decide who your audiences are • Decide if monetary valuation is appropriate for you

22. Stage 2 –Define focus and purpose • Decide the focus for the business case • Clarify the intended purpose and outcomes • Consider possible comparator areas/ projects

23. Comparators • Do nothing • Status Quo • Alternative engagement methods • Alternative means of achieving the benefits

24. Distributional impacts • DEFRA and the Environment Agency (2005) estimated that around 5% of all permit applications took in excess of 500 hrs to process and 1% took over 1,000 hrs. • Total Place Report (2010) found 200 to 300 ‘chaotic’ families in Croydon; each cost public services around £250,000 per year

25. Stage 3 -Decide what to measure • Identify what can be given a money value and what can't • Identify who you need help from to obtain the data • Identify where proxies might be appropriate

26. Benefits • Innovation and creativity • Avoiding conflict • Access to new resources • Development/maintenance • Better quality outcomes • Information and expertise • Increased public awareness • Sharing responsibility • Increased use • Staff morale

27. Non-monetary benefits • Revealed preference (What people do) • Stated preference (What people say) • Willingness to pay • Willingness to accept • Benefits transfer (What other people measured) • Replacement Costs (What people would do instead)

28. Benefits Transfer (Portsmouth) • Bin fires in area: 2006: 154 2008: 135 • Each case of criminal damage ~ £856 • 4.29 crimes unreported per reported case. • Potential saving of £69,772.56 per year • Also non monetary benefits: increased volunteering, levels of satisfaction

29. Replacement costs

30. Stage 4 Complete checklist & chart • Understand your data and assumptions • Gather the data you need • Fill in the checklist and calculation chart • Use spreadsheets to track costs and benefits

31. Benefits - Increase trust

32. Benefits - Take difficult decisions

33. Stage 5 -Analyse results • Try out different methods of analysis, for example SROI, Cost benefit, Cost-effectiveness • Understand the limitations of the data • Test results with colleagues

34. Example -Probability Environment Agency aimed to build ownership/trust in flood defence schemes: • Flood mitigation benefit= £35-40 million • Engagement= £2 million • To be cost effective in future probability of success must increase by 5.7% (£2 m/£35m). • Engagement needs to change the result from rejection to acceptance in 1 case in 20 to be worthwhile.

35. Stage 6 -Present the business case • Select appropriate presentation format • Present the business case • Adapt to feedback

36. Communicating the result • Use the business case to tell stories • Tailor your argument to fit your audience • Seeing is believing • Anecdotes can be powerful • Don’t forget the potential costs of non-engagement • Theory of Change

37. Doncaster furniture recycling Benefits to council Benefits to clients 4000+ low-income households received goods –estimated supplying same families with second-hand goods would have cost £140,000 with existing market prices. • 488 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill, saving approximately £20,000 in landfill tax payments.

38. Exercise • In groups identify how you might value the costs and benefits of a particular engagement project using the tool. • Ideally a ‘live’ project; however, it could also be a ‘dummy’ project.

39. Exercise • Define the focus and purpose • Decide what to measure • Complete the checklist and chart • Analyse the results and ‘test’ with other groups

40. Tallying the results Picture CC: Some rights reserved By: mconnors

41. Plenary • What did you discover? • Were there any unexpected results? • What will you do with these results?

42. Links 1 • Making the case for engagement guide: http://www.involve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Making-the-Case-for-Public-Engagement.pdf • Making the case –Excel sheet: http://www.involve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Calculating-costs-and-benefits-with-comparator.xls

43. Links 2 • Department of Health –Value of PPI: http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/economic-case-for-ppi • Democratic Society: Financial case white paper http://www.demsoc.org/static/Financial-Case-white-paper.pdf • IDeA –Making the business case: http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=17455595

44. Links 3 • National Coordinating Centre -Embedding Engagement Guide: http://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/support/self-assess • Involve –True Costs of Participation: http://www.involve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/True-Costs-Full-Report2.pdf

45. Links 4 • Sciencewise –Valuing Engagement Guide: http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/evidence-counts-understanding-the-value-of-public-dialogue/?phpMyAdmin=oHPjaCSrPMAdI04AYEPthe913wb • Sciencewise –Departmental Dialogue Index: http://www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk/cms/departmental-dialogue-index/?phpMyAdmin=oHPjaCSrPMAdI04AYEPthe913wb

46. “It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong” John Maynard Keynes

47. The tail end Picture CC: Some rights reserved By: mconnors involve Royal London House 22-25 Finsbury Square London EC2A 1DX t:0 20 7920 6470 e:edward@involve.org.uk twitter:ed_andersson