Leigh McFarlane, Public Policy and Research Manager at Thirtyone:eight, shares her thoughts on why public policy is for everyone.
Leigh, before we start, what is ‘public policy’?
Public policy is a collection of the actions, proposals, guidelines, and legislation that governments and organisations create in order to address a specific area of life in society. The aim is improve public life and to improve welfare.
Why is Thirtyone:eight involved in public policy?
Firstly our name is also our vision. It comes from Proverbs 31:8 “speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of those who are vulnerable.” This is our mandate, and we want voices heard in all spheres and levels of society and the church. We want to ensure there’s no limitation on being heard, and that our members are represented well. So we want to create space for them to engage with politicians, faith leaders, safeguarding professionals and other experts.
Secondly, we want to create opportunity for learning. For example, through our work with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) we’re able to bring key groups of people together. Those whose work overlap but that may not necessarily be working together. It also means politicians can hear directly from survivors and survivors have a space to influence too.
Finally, our expertise lends itself to public policy. We've got many, many years of experience across our team that allows us to understand the different perspectives in public policy and how to work within them. That experience means we can work in an accountable and transparent way, helping to shape good quality, well researched and evidence-led public policy that creates safer spaces for everyone.
What sort of things are Thirtyone:eight involved with?
I already mentioned the APPG. We are the secretariat (administrative office). That group consists of politicians, survivors, faith leaders and other charities. There can be a huge disconnect between the statutory sector and safeguarding and faith sectors. But the APPG is a very good example of where a huge amount of overlap has been identified. By these groups working together, the APPG has been instrumental in successful campaigning for changes in legislation. Examples of these successes are the changes in legislation around positions of trust, and removing the ability for sex offenders to change their name by deed poll. Together, we’re continuing to advocate for the Government to embed our recommendations following the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
We work with the four Governments across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland to try to ensure what is legislation in one nation, becomes legislation in the other nations, so that there is equity of safety across the UK.
We also support other faith groups to engage with public policy and ensuring that that churches and faith spaces are safer places for everyone.
So what does your job look like on a daily basis?
It’s really different every day. I work across the 4 UK nations, where policies vary. Some days I am focused on responding to Government policies or announcements, or attending parliamentary meetings. Other days I may be writing papers or supporting our commitment as the administrative office of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for safeguarding in faith communities at Westminster.
Can you tell us about the Thirtyone:eight Manifesto?
It’s our first ever manifesto. We wanted to clearly and intentionally set out the key policy aims that we would want to advocate for before the four UK governments. The manifesto sets out what we want to do, what it is we're asking governments to do and gives us a launch point to have those discussions. Really, we produced it because we wanted to resource and equip our members to enable them to be part of the discussions as well.
Public Policy work sounds like it could be quite challenging, how do you stay motivated?
I’m personally very motivated by the bible verse that says, “to act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). There are examples throughout the bible of people engaging with the powers of the day to make society a better place which inspires me.
A long time ago a friend gave me this piece of advice, “when you get bogged down in the details, sometimes you need to zoom back out to see the big picture.” It’s easy to think we’re not getting anywhere when you’re zoomed in, so we need to keep an eye on the bigger picture to see how far we’ve come. We have to celebrate the small steps, even when there’s still a way to go. We have to remain realistic and manage our expectations. But when we pause and remember why we’re doing this and who we’re doing it for, it drives us. I always think ‘what if these issues affected my own children, how long would I fight for that? How long would I advocate for to make sure that that they are safe?’ What is good for my kids is good for every other child. That gives me dogged determination to keep going.
It can be disheartening at times, but I see every knock back as a learning opportunity. Yes, you feel anguish, but you also get more savvy about what you need to do. It's like Thomas Edison. If he'd given up trying to make the light bulb at the 199th attempt, we'd all be sitting in the dark! You know, you've got to learn from the failures and successes.
Finally, what legacy do you hope is left through the public policy work?
That’s a big question, but ultimately, we want our work to bring about a safer world. We want good policy to influence good practice, and for all of that to be underpinned by healthy and safe cultures.
Changing and updating policy takes time. It's not a one year or five year journey. Sometimes it could be 20 years before you see that change or longer. But my hope is that what we do now will make the world a safer place for everyone.
Find out more about the Thirtyone:eight manifesto here.
