Memorandum by Oxfordshire County Council
(LGC 27)
2005-06 BUDGET AND COUNCIL TAX CONSULTATION
OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
BACKGROUND
1. As part of its consultations on the 2005-06
budget and council tax levels, Oxfordshire County Council commissioned
MORI to undertake a community workshop (discussion day) involving
a cross section of residents from across the county. The day-long
discussion day was intended to meet four broad objectives:
— to inform County Council members
and officers how residents prioritise and make their trade-offs
when budget modelling;
— to identify priorities and views
on council tax in the light of budget discussions;
— to engage a group of residents in
the process which the Council undertakes when setting the budget;
and
— to demonstrate to residents generally
that the Council wants to listen to their views.
2. The central concept of Oxfordshire County
Council's discussion day was to engage "ordinary" residents
in something akin to the process which the Council has to undertake
when setting its budget. Participants were first invited to articulate,
unprompted, their views and concerns about living in Oxfordshire
and the services provided by the Council. After being briefed
by the Council on its priorities and budget issues, participants
were then set a budget modelling task—to consider whether
more or less money should be spent on a range of fifteen specific
services or whether council tax should reduce or increase as a
result. They were told that they should assume that council tax
would increase by 1% in any event to meet unavoidable inflationary
pressures and nationally-set obligations. Any increase or reduction
in expenditure they proposed would therefore be in addition to,
or would be taken away from, this assumed level of council tax
increase. This "trade off" discussion was informed by
Council representatives who briefed participants about the detail
of each service area.
GENERAL EFFECTIVENESS
OF CONSULTATION
AND ITS
IMPACT ON
LOCAL AUTHORITY
DECISION-MAKING
AND POSSIBLE
WAYS TO
IMPROVE IT
3. This was a challenging exercise, not
without risk to the Council. The Government expects Councils to
consult its residents and stakeholders when setting their budgets.
This is immensely challenging. It is one thing to consult residents
on high salience issues, about which they will have a considered
view. But residents generally claim to know very little about
the complexities of councils' budgets—their concerns are
with council tax levels and services, but not the linkages between
them. The risk with budget consultation therefore is that it will
engender unconsidered views, uninformed by the range of statutory
obligations, demographic changes, social needs, financial management
and other issues which councils need to consider.
4. Ultimately the budget modelling exercise
was a game, but one which replicated—inevitably simplistically—the
kind of process undertaken by local authorities. Participants
understood that, in real life, councilors take a range of other
evidence into account, along with statutory obligations and further
consultations. Participants were not therefore making decisions.
If given another set of budget choices, another set of choices
could have been made.
5. However, the exercise was highly effective
in discovering what was important for residents, how this related
to their experience and attitudes, and how they traded off their
priorities with the need to pay, through the council tax, for
the choices they made.
6. One of the main challenges with the exercise
was to convey to those participating the consequences of the trade
offs they had made in their decision making. This consultation
attempted to simplify each decision, so that participants could
decide to decrease, maintain or improve the current level of the
service. In some cases the consequences of these decisions were
obvious; in others they were more difficult to visualize. One
improvement that could be made to the exercise would be to use
more examples, to illustrate the impact of the trade offs on service
areas.
HOW PUBLIC
CONSULTATION FITS
INTO THE
LOCAL AUTHORITY
DECISION MAKING
PROCESSES
7. The 2005-06 Budget and Council Tax Consultation
is an integral part of the annual budget round conducted by the
County Council. Preparation for the consultation exercise starts
in October of the previous year when budget priority areas are
identified for the next financial year. These priority areas form
the basis of the budget setting exercise. The consultation is
then scheduled for early January. This allows the results of the
consultation to be circulated to all Councilors, well in advance
of the final decision in February, allowing them to gauge the
feelings of the community towards key policy decisions, and an
acceptable level of council tax.
WHETHER PUBLIC
CONSULTATION BY
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
IS PART
OF A
CONTINUING PROCESS
OF COMMUNICATION,
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
AND PARTICIPATION
8. The 2005-06 Budget and Council Tax Consultation
is just one example, of a wide range of consultations that take
place each year. These include other qualitative approaches in
the form of focus groups and forums concerning specific policy
areas, through to quantitative approaches including questionnaires
and street surveys. The County Council also employ a 3,000 strong
Citizens Panel which is consulted every four months about local
service areas. This range of approaches allow the authority to
consult widely, and continually throughout the year.
9. A number of communication channels are
employed to disseminate information to the public regarding upcoming
consultations. These include a consultation tracker database,
which allows the general public to view details about consultations,
including where and when they are taking place, how they can become
involved, and after the consultation has taken place, the conclusions
and outcomes of the research.
THE EXTENT
TO WHICH
CONSULTATION EXERCISES
REACH AN
AUDIENCE BEYOND
THOSE WHO
TYPICALLY PARTICIPATE
10. The 2005-06 Budget and Council Tax Consultation
Exercise was successful at engaging hard to reach groups, such
as young people who typically do not participate in more traditional
forms of consultation, such as public meetings. For the majority
of the day, participants were split into the following discussion
groups.
— 18-30 year olds (younger group);
— 31-54 year olds (middle group); and
— 55+ year olds (older group).
By creating a discussion group specifically
for young people this encouraged them to engage in the debate
more freely, unencumbered by the presence of older people, who
they may perceive to be more knowledgeable about local issues.
This enabled the young people to be more vocal with their opinions,
and able to debate service areas more fully prior to reaching
a consensus. The result was that young people were effectively
engaged, and felt able to fully participate in the process.
11. In each group there was also a good
mix of people from each social class, gender, and geographical
area. This ensured that groups such as those from working class
areas and rural communities, which are traditionally under-represented
were able to have their say. This also ensured that a broad range
of opinions were represented.
RECOMMENDATIONS
12. Oxfordshire County Council recommend
that the 2005-06 Budget and Council tax Consultation Exercise,
should be considered an example of best practice for budget consultation,
with residents and stakeholders.
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