Children's services were the topic for the first in a series of citizens' juries announced by the prime minister. Gordon Brown and secretary of state for children, schools and families, Ed Balls, launched a national debate on all children's services at the event in Bristol last week. The jury was made up of teachers, pupils, parents and residents. Last week, Mr Brown proposed new ways of engaging people in local democracy, including independent citizens' juries on key public service issues (The MJ, 6 September). Concerns have been raised over the importance of the juries and how much influence they will have over public services, and calls made to focus instead on getting voters back to the polls. An LGA spokesman said: ‘The bottom line is that people need to want to vote, and are more likely to do this if they think it will make a difference.'
