Communities and Victims Panel - terms of reference

The Grassroots Communities and Victims Panel has been created to listen to the views of those affected by the recent riots – residents, shopkeepers, parents, young people and others. The Panel will give those affected the opportunity to voice their opinions on the factors which communities believe led to the loss of public order and rioting in their areas, including:
 

• why the riots happened in some areas and not others,
• what drove a small minority to take part in the riots, and their individual and collective motivations and characteristics,
• why most people did not take part,
• how key public services engaged with communities before, during and after the riots,
• what motivated local people to come together to take civic action to resist riots in their area or to clean up after riots had taken place,
•  how communities can be made more socially and economically resilient in the future, in order to prevent these occurrences happening again, and
• what they think could have been done differently to prevent or manage the riots

 
The panel will identify and manage a process for engaging with communities and victims at the grassroots level to ensure that they are given a chance to have their say on their experiences before, during, and after the riots.
 
The Panel will report jointly to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Official Opposition with
 

1. initial findings by end of November 2011 and
2. conclusive findings by the end of March 2012.

 
They will be able to make recommendations based on the evidence they have heard.