There is no definitive answer to the question of when expert knowledge or a professional agenda becomes a negative exercise of power but ensuring that professionals are aware to the impact of their actions on citizens is an important part of public value. However, there are more fundamental questions that are too often left unanswered: what are the outcomes of these activities ? How is the information garnered from engagement with the public used ? To what extent does this influence the decisions taken by public managers ? How does it feed back into organisational processes ?