Ministers are pretty chatty on average
Visualisation of ministerial webchat replies
I’ve managed and evaluated a few ministerial webchats in my time, and I’m expecting to run a few more.
When organising a webchat two questions always pop up.
One, how many questions will be received? The answer has to be: how long is a piece of string, or more accurately, how interesting is a piece of string. Sometimes you get 50, sometimes 5000.
Two, how many questions can the Minister expect to answer in the time (usually 60 minutes)? That’s an easier question to answer with an inclination, but recently I’ve been wanting to give a more precise answer. So, I thought I’d try to get one.
The aim was to get an average number, not produce a league table. A league table is pointless because each webchat attracts different questions requiring different answers that take different lengths of time to satisfy.
I restricted myself to ministerial webchats (no senior civil servants) and those run on departmental websites or channels. All webchats were text-based (practically all are) and run after 2005. Some ministers appear more than once, because they’ve done more than one webchat (dates available if you want). All the webchats had to be public-facing to count.
I found the transcripts through site archives and allowed myself to search back as far as three pages into a Google search. I think it was a pretty exhaustive search, but please let me know if I’ve missed any. I then counted the ‘replies’, which in webchat parlance count as answers. I did the count manually but thoroughly, though I accept there may be a reply missed or added here and there.
The answer: on average a minister manages to answer 21 questions in a webchat.
| MINISTER | REPLIES |
| Alan Johnson | 14 |
| Alan Johnson | 22 |
| Alistair Darling | 22 |
| Andy Burnham | 15 |
| Anne McGuire | 19 |
| Baroness Ashton | 19 |
| Beverley Hughes | 29 |
| Caroline Flint | 9 |
| David Miliband | 30 |
| David Miliband | 32 |
| David Miliband | 21 |
| Des Browne | 18 |
| Douglas Alexander | 13 |
| Ed Balls | 24 |
| Geoff Hoon | 39 |
| Hazel Blears | 23 |
| Hilary Benn | 22 |
| Hilary Benn | 27 |
| Ivan Lewis | 24 |
| Ivan Lewis | 47 |
| Jacqui Smith | 16 |
| Jacqui Smith | 15 |
| Jacqui Smith | 17 |
| James Purnell | 23 |
| James Purnell | 26 |
| Jim Fitzpatrick | 25 |
| Jim Murphy | 20 |
| Jim Murphy | 15 |
| Jim Murphy | 17 |
| John Denham | 18 |
| John Hutton | 20 |
| John Hutton | 17 |
| John Reid | 17 |
| John Reid | 16 |
| Liam Byrne | 16 |
| Lord Adonis | 21 |
| Lord Darzi | 13 |
| Lord Darzi | 18 |
| Lord Sainsbury | 30 |
| Malcolm Wicks | 25 |
| Malcolm Wicks | 29 |
| Patricia Hewitt | 20 |
| Peter Hain | 25 |
| Phil Hope | 37 |
| Phil Woolas | 19 |
| Ruth Kelly | 19 |
| Ruth Kelly | 18 |
| Shahid Malik | 10 |
| Shriti Vadera | 8 |
| Stephen Ladyman | 12 |
| Stephen Ladyman | 35 |
| Stephen Ladyman | 18 |
| Yvette Cooper | 21 |
Goodness, that must have been a labour of love!
Interesting findings – presumably there’s some sort of correlation with the personal IT skills of the minister and the seriousness with which they take online engagement…?
For your next trick, analysis of ministerial answers by Twitter?
Individual IT skills are definitely part of the picture; though some Ministers type themselves, others bring in a touch-typist. What suprises most people is that the Ministers do actually participate directly :) I think this is a good reason for moving more toward webcasts, or at least offering live svideo streaming wherever possible.
I don’t think live streaming would be possible and video would probably take up too much editing time. I think I’m right in saying that the output has to abide by Civil Service Code (as they’re on neutral gov websites), so no party political stuff allowed, when being ‘interviewed’/filmed they cannot resist – hence text much easier.
You’re right on the Code, Seb. I’m a bit of an optimist and I think that there are some lightweight tools and techniques that we could try out to help bring a bit of richness in to the traditionally flat – but informative – webchat.
For the record, I know of one prominent central government office which does keep a ‘league table’ of questions answered…
Which one?
God Ross, you’re meant to be busy! Leave it ;)
Wow. Thanks for this Ross!