How can public bodies engage with the public during tech procurement?
Case study: London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden has used public participation to help inform procurement as part of its mission-led approach to governing. This sits alongside its major public participation initiative around data, the Camden Data Charter. While requiring some investment and cultural changes, decisions made in these ways are seen as reflecting the priorities of the public; being authentic and evidence-led, which can help bring long-term political stability. They are also seen as improving community relations and increasing democratic engagement.
This case study is part of a series exploring how public sector organisations involve the public, workers and civil society in decisions about data and AI, and some of the consequences when they do not. Read more about our work on public involvement in public sector data and AI.
Camden is a diverse borough in central London. It is taking a mission-focused approach to tackling key challenges, with four missions developed with input from community organisations, local businesses, residents, and partners. These missions aim for a healthier, more sustainable Camden by 2030, and focus on ensuring access to nutritious food, revitalising estates and neighbourhoods, promoting diversity in leadership, and providing economic opportunities for young people. The approach aims to encourage collaboration across sectors, bottom-up solutions and ongoing learning to address complex social issues.
The council has explored mission-oriented procurement for the commissioning and procurement of Homecare, the Long-Term Care and Support service commissioned by Adult Social Care. Their Mission Incubator recommended involving bringing different voices – including residents – throughout the procurement lifecycle, helping to set strategy, score tenders, and evaluate performance and support learning. This includes working with residents to understand what ‘social value’ means locally and prioritising suppliers with roots in the community and capacity for co-design.
This approach builds on Camden’s strengths in participation and open procurement processes. The Camden Data Charter was co-created with residents to guide how the council should collect, process and share data through discussions with community groups, interviews with residents, and two representative deliberative panels providing their input on data use cases. A participatory budgeting pilot on Hillgrove Estate enables residents to spend a pot of roughly £100k a year (roughly a quarter of spend on the estate) flexibly.
While there are costs to involving the public in these ways, some of these costs are investments that produce longer term resources (such as guidance and institutional knowledge). Public participation is seen to give legitimacy for, and stability to, policy positions, helping with long-term planning in the borough. It’s also seen as improving community relations with and democratic engagement by residents.
