A citizens' assembly brings people together to learn, deliberate and make recommendations on an issue of public concern. Similar to jury service, members are randomly selected from the population by a process called sortition. Quotas are used to ensure that the assembly is representative in terms of key characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity, education level and geography. Assembly members learn about critical thinking before they hear balanced information from experts and stakeholders. The members spend time deliberating in small, facilitated groups and then they draft and vote on recommendations. Citizens' assemblies are conducted by non-partisan organisations under independent oversight. They are transparent, inclusive and effective.

The UK Parliament already uses deliberative democracy processes, such as citizens' assemblies, for example the Citizens' Assembly on Social Care worked with House of Commons Select Committees and there are three deliberative democracy projects currently running as part of the Innovation in Democracyproject. Citizens' assemblies around the world - for example in Ireland, Canada, Australia, Belgium and Poland - have demonstrated that the general public can understand complex information, deliberate on options, and make fair and impartial choices.

Citizens' assemblies are often used to address issues that are deemed too controversial and difficult for politicians to deal with successfully by themselves. In recent years, Ireland's Citizens' Assembly has broken the deadlock on two controversial issues: legalising same-sex marriage and the repeal of the ban on abortion. The recommendations of the citizens' assembly informed public debate and emboldened politicians to advocate for change regarding these issues. The recommendations of their citizens' assembly on Making Ireland a Leader in Tackling Climate Change is currently being incorporated into the Government's action plan.