About the consultation
The consultation had two strands. A web based consultation was held from July to September 2007. Anyone could contribute to this by visiting this website and listing their top three social evils. Some 3,500 people took part and a further 100 responses were sent to the JRF by post.
However, this group was not representative of the British population generally. Furthermore, it was recognised that conducting the web consultation might exclude some groups whose voices are not usually heard, who might have limited access to the internet.
The National Centre for Social Research was commissioned to address these concerns and ensure that the voices of these potentially excluded groups were heard. They explored the questions of today’s social evils with groups less likely to be reached through the web consultation. In total, 60 people took part in eight discussion groups held across England and Scotland in September and October 2007.
Participants were recruited through a number of charitable organisations working with groups of people whose voices are not usually heard, and included people with learning difficulties, ex-offenders, people with experience of homelessness, unemployed people, care leavers and carers. A particular attempt was made to include black and minority ethnic groups and young people.