Memorandum by the Borough of Poole (LGC
17)
1. The general effectiveness of public consultation
and its impact on local authority decision-making and possible
ways to improve it
1.1 Poole has a good track record in consultation.
This has been achieved through the establishment of a Citizens
Panel, use of discussion groups, utilisation of the BVPI Survey
prescribed by ODPM every three years, face to face events and
through the co-ordination of consultation.
POOLE OPINION
PANEL
1.2 The Borough's consultation strategy
centres on the Poole Opinion Panel—a panel of 1,600 residents
representative of Poole by age, gender and area. The panel is
consulted twice a year by survey and discussion groups are recruited
to meet ad hoc consultation needs or to supplement survey results.
1.3 The Panel is refreshed every year to
ensure that it remains representative and to ensure that conditioning
does not take place which can bias survey results.
1.4 The Panel has been effective in reducing
the number of surveys that are sent to residents—and means
that cost efficiencies are made.
1.5 The effectiveness of the Panel has also
been evaluated by Panel members—here are some of their comments:
By giving up a small amount of my time, I feel
that I have made a difference to future services in Poole. I found
out a lot about the Council too!
It's easy to moan about the council, but it is
much better to get involved in a small way in the decision process.
I took part in a discussion group about crime.
I was a bit anxious at first, but I found it really informal and
interesting.
DISCUSSION GROUPS
1.6 Discussion groups are organised to meet
consultation needs on particular topics. This can be either explorative
research or follow-up research to shed some light on survey findings.
1.7 The Consultation Manager is a trained
facilitator, which offers a cost-effective means for Service Units
to consult residents. External facilitators re contracted for
corporate or more sensitive topics, when a Council facilitator
would bias the results.
CAMPAIGNS
1.8 Poole's innovative "Who is Jules
Jolliffe?" campaign used strong branding and a creative concept
(Jules Jolliffe) to promote residents to respond to the council's
consultation on political management structures.
1.9 28,485 Poole residents (26.4%) took
part in the postal survey—the highest known response to
the issue in England.
"The response rate to Poole's innovative
Jules Jolliffe campaign is extremely impressive for a Council
survey sent out to all local residents, and shows that creative
approaches to engaging with the community can strike a chord with
the public." Gideon Skinner, MORI's Local Government Team.
See—http://www.boroughofpoole.com/julesjolliffe/1-0.asp
for more information.
BUDGET CONSULTATION
1.10 Poole Council used LEGO bricks to liven
up the Council's budget consultation. Previous attempts had been
based on an intensive round of stakeholder consultation, centring
around the draft Best Value Performance Plan.
1.11 In a bid to engage the public, a "Lego
skyline" was constructed in Poole's busy shopping centre
showing residents how the budget was spent. Once encouraged to
the stand, residents were allocated the equivalent of Band D council
tax in Lego to spend on their choice of services. They also had
to also make a saving on one service; illustrating how difficult
the choices and decisions really are.
1.12 Around 2,000 residents took part in
the event and "LEGO" has since been adopted and adapted
by MORI, Dorset and Monmouthshire Councils, to name a few, to
consult on the Council tax.
1.13 For Poole's recent "budget and
priorities" consultation, MORI was engaged to assess what
makes Poole people form their opinions of the Council; shedding
light on the results of the BVPI Survey. Ben Page from MORI gave
a presentation in October 2004 which proved really effective identifying
priorities and springing Councillors into action.
CO -ORDINATION
1.14 Consultation is co-ordinated and entered
onto a database on the Council's intranet.
The Council is also effective at co-ordinating
consultation with partners, examples include working with Poole
Hospital Trust about a proposed smoking ban in Poole and joint
consultation with the Police regarding the Crime and Disorder
Strategy.
1.15 The Poole Opinion Panel is an effective
way of co-ordinating consultation.
HOW TO
IMPROVE IT
1.16 The success of the Lego and Who is
Jules Jolliffe campaigns show that a successful mix of consultation
and communications can produce effective consultation that widely
engages the public.
1.17 Generally people know consultation
is good in practice. On the other hand, the continuing tendency
for government prescribed consultation is seen as something extra
to do as part of their normal job which leads to a tick box mentality;
heavy workloads compound this problem. Furthermore, sometimes
the answer is known before consultation takes place—and
sometimes the decision has actually been made—in this case
consultation is purely a "tick in the box" to meet government
requirements.
1.18 The work of the Consultation Manager
aims to turn this around, so that consultation is planned and
managed to achieve the best results according to the purpose of
the consultation and the stakeholders involved—but the amount
and scale is more than enough for one Consultation Manager.
1.19 Government requirements added to many
service programmes and the enthusiasm for consultation from within
the Council increases the number of consultation and the potential
for consultation fatigue.
1.20 The consultation calendar on the intranet
has proved some success in co-ordinating consultation, making
the Consultation Manager aware of consultation that is planned,
but this is not always completed by Service Units and some consultation
happens without the knowledge of the Consultation Manager despite
best efforts to co-ordinate.
1.21 The Council publishes a Forward Plan
on the website, which includes details of consultation. Again
completion can be hit and miss, but there is potential for this
to be a useful source of information both internally and externally.
1.22 The time is takes for decisions to
be made and outcomes fed-back to consultees can exacerbate consultation
fatigue and is detrimental to effective consultation. Participants
are given feedback on any consultation they take part in—but
what needs to improve is feedback on "this is what we did
as a result". The new consultation strategy aims to reinforce
the importance of consultation, but the `what we did' issue may
take longer to resolve.
1.23 The BVPI Survey results were delayed
as their true value came from the benchmarking information, which
was not released by ODPM until July 2004.
1.24 The Government's own deadlines for
consultation—which we often have to pass on to the public—give
a real sense of scepticism about the bona fides of the process.
They need to give more time and space to consultation themselves.
1.25 The Cabinet Office's Code of Practice
for Consultation goes some way towards co-ordinating government
consultation, but consultation fatigue is still evident.
2. How public consultation fits into the
local authority decision making processes
2.1 Responsibility for service consultation
remains with Service Unit Heads. It is their role to feed consultation
results into the decision making process as part of the strategy/policy/proposal
they are developing.
2.2 Summary findings of corporate research
are presented to the Council's Management Team on a regular basis.
3. Whether public consultation by local authorities
is part of a continuing process of communication, information
dissemination and participation
3.1 Consultation is an integral part of
the new Communications Strategy and the Consultation Manager works
in the Communications Unit alongside the Media, Web, e-communications,
Internal Communications and Corporate Publications Managers. Consultation
campaigns utilise all the appropriate communications tools—tapping
into the Communication's Team's expertise.
3.2 Surveys are promoted on the Council's
website and press releases are sent out to increase awareness.
3.3 Results are published on the website
(see www.boroughofpoole.com/opinions) and feedback to wider residents
via Poole News—the Council's newspaper. Panel members receive
a copy of Feedback with every survey showing them what they said
and what the Council is doing (or plans to do) as a result.
I found Feedback really useful. It shows that
the Council really does listen to our opinions and I found out
what other people said too!
4. Whether best practice is being developed
and applied widely
4.1 The Council uses a variety of methods
to consult—including Citizens Panel, postal surveys, face
to face surveys, face to face events and discussion groups. These
are managed by the Consultation Manager working to best practice.
4.2 Consultation protocols and procedures
are established to ensure that consultation is fit for purpose
and guidance is available from the Consultation Manager. External
Market Research Organisations are commissioned to carry out work
that is considered sensitive; to achieve cost efficiencies or
to gain from particular expertise.
4.3 The role of the Consultation Manager
is to lead the co-ordination of consultation, including delivering
the corporate tools including the Poole Opinion Panel, but the
role is also an advisory role—giving advice on techniques,
providing guidance and support to ensure best value through use
of "corporate" tools and appliance of protocols that
ensure a high and consistent standard of public engagement.
4.4 The Consultation Manager has been trained
by MORI. Poole is part of the South West Consultation Officers
Group, an informal group that discusses and shares best practice.
4.5 Examples of best practice consultation
that has taken place includes Lego, "Who is Jules Jolliffe?",
"LEGO", plus joint work with the health and Police authority
as outlined in (1) above.
5. The extent to which consultation exercises
reach an audience beyond those who typically participate
5.1 Recruitment of young people to the Poole
Opinion Panel is proving increasingly difficult, and whilst "recruits"
can be encourage to take part in discussion groups (because of
the £20 thank you), they are less likely to return surveys.
Surveys are publicised on NewsDirect (the Council's on-line news
services that sends emails to subscribers) and press releases
are sent out to raise awareness.
5.2 Consultation is also assessed to determine
who needs to be consulted in order to minimise consultation fatigue—making
sure that the consultation is fit for purpose and that it is targeted
accordingly.
5.3 The Youth Forum meets every two weeks
and is an effective forum used by Service Units for consultation
purposes. At times, the Youth Forum arranges further consultation
on issues of particular interest to young people and will tap
into the views of young people.
5.4 Six Area Meetings (based in Poole's
main areas) were launched with the new Council structure. Meeting
agendas are publicised in the local paper, aiming to increase
attendance and encouraging residents to come along to discuss
issues. However the meetings are very formal and "committee-like",
with minutes and so on, that they are unlikely to reach a broad
cross-section in their current format.
5.5 The Council has formed an "older
People's Strategy Group" working together with the Health
Authority, Poole Hospital Trust and support for Help and Care.
This group can be tapped into by Service Units for consultation
purposes and is used on a regular basis by Social Services.
5.6 Poole has a low BME Population, who
are particularly hard to reach. A standard for consulting BME
Groups has been produced. A BME panel is to be recruited and there
are plans to develop a peer listening scheme to help build capacity
in the community.
5.7 An Annual Business Conference is held
to engage businesses and Task Groups have been set up to take
forward the key issues identified as important by the local business
community and the Poole Partnership (Poole's Local Strategic Partnership).
6. Whether the new cabinet structures in
Local Government facilitate consultation and the involvement of
constituents in decision-making
6.1 The scrutiny process is designed to
make the Council more open and accountable, which is positive
for consultation, however Council meetings are dominated by talk
of strategies and plans.
6.2 Portfolio Holders are willing to be
visible in consultation strengthens their accountability. The
Cabinet hold "Meet the Cabinet" events from time to
time and always during the budget formulating period. These are
an opportunity for residents to raise issues with their Councillors
in an informal way and find out more about the Council and share
their views. These events are publicised in the press—see
press releases on www.boroughofpoole.com:
6.3 Area Committees were introduced with
the new council structure and are designed to be tools for consultation,
however the timings and nature of the meetings means that they
are official and often attended by the "usual suspects"
rather than reaching out to residents.
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