Neil Williams has a good post up about the need to break some institutions into a more interactive world slowly. The Hansard Society’s Andy Williamson had a similar post up here a while ago:

Innovation fails when the people with the ideas aren’t matched by the ones with the skills and power to make those ideas happen. End-to-end innovation – and, therefore, eDemocracy – takes in the whole of the organisation.

I’d argue that this is a political issue. Or, more to the point, it’s something that requires a political leadership. That can’t happen, however, until we address one of the key problems in promoting innovation in the UK: That the relationship between the permanent bureaucracy and the elected one is not one that promotes innovation of this kind.

In Yes Minister, Jim Hacker’s bright ideas were always punctured when Sir Humphrey congratulated him on making a courageous decision. It was a clear shot across the boughs.

I don’t want to get into the massive debate around the neutral civil service that we have in the UK, in contrast to the in-and-outers that other countries have. Suffice to say that…

a) I wish we had less of a fetish of neutrality here

b) You understand what the word hegemony means when you challenge the idea of civil service neutrality in the UK. It’s like poking a cage of tigers with sharp sticks.

But I will say this: It’s hard to see how this will change as long as politicians believe that they will be hopelessly exposed when they demand innovation and risk-taking from their departments. We currently break what I beleive should be a golden rule here: Never place 100% of the blame for failure upon the shoulders of someone with a veto. It’s a recipe for stagnation.

This is why, in order to promote a change in the attitude to the take-up of social media as a means of improving the quality of governance, the PICamp strand of Reboot Britain next Monday (6th July) will include a session dealing with what Tim Davies has identified as the ’50 small hurdles’ that prevent public bodies from unlocking their knowledge and opening themselves up to more conversational interactive processes.

At this session, we are hoping that participants will take part in the creation of an interactive charter that will create a momentum to remove these obstacles and promote a more open and transparent policy making. In fact, we’re hoping that more than just a charter will come out of the session – watch this space for more detail.

Euan Semple will be there to reinforce the benefits of interactivity, and Jeremy Gould – the erstwhile Whitehall Webby will be there – metaphorically stripped to the waist and showing us the scars he picked up

This session will be happening at 1.30pm in the Siemans Room