Memorandum by Wolverhampton City Council
(LGC 24)
1. CONTEXT
1.1 Wolverhampton has a strong record in
public consultation, and has been a leading authority nationally
in terms of good practice. This has been achieved through building-up
a strong partnership infrastructure. The Council and LSP have
led the development of a strategic group, the City-Wide Involvement
Network (CWIN), involving 16 of the Authority's major partners
(including the police, the PCT, voluntary sector representatives
and the Network Consortium, among others) to co-ordinate consultations,
share information and collaborate on consultation projects for
example the Community Plan consultation.
1.2 Wolverhampton has had an officer in
place in the Office of the Chief Executive to co-ordinate consultation
activities across the Council for around three years (although
the post is currently vacant at time of writing, with a new post-holder
about to take up the role). This has proven invaluable in managing
and co-ordinating the consultation work within the Authority.
1.3 Individual Service Groups within the
Council have officers in place to manage and carry out consultation,
these officers have been drawn together into a Council-wide Public
Involvement Network Group (PING). In addition to this, a number
of Service Groups have established Service Improvement Network
Groups (SING), to share information and good practice and avoid
duplication of effort.
1.4 Outcomes of consultation activities
have played a pivotal role in the Council's work around reviewing
policies and procedures, and ensuring that service delivery matches
the needs and aspirations of citizens and service improvements.
2. EFFECTIVENESS
AND IMPACT
OF PUBLIC
CONSULTATION
2.1 The Council has had considerable success
in using consultation to shape services, and we will continue
to develop the extent to which consultation directly informs decision-making,
service planning and service improvements in the Council.
2.2 In terms of effectiveness, Wolverhampton
pays particular attention to practical details (location, timing
and supporting certain audiences to participate) and believe it
is essential in enabling participation. An example of this is
in the case of groups such as carers (who may not be able to attend
early morning/late evening meetings).
2.3 Officers across the Council raised the
issue that the effectiveness of consultation by local authorities
can be impaired by the very service role that we are seeking to
consult on, since service users may be reliant on such services,
creating a difficult power relationship. Sometimes there can be
an imbalance of power in service user/professional relationships,
which may make participation difficult.
2.4 Officers within the Council identified
a need abandon some of the old ways of working and strive to achieve
the changes that Wolverhampton's citizens want. This was one of
the catalysts for the development of Network Groups to oversee
consultation work across the Council and Strategic Partnership.
2.5 Wolverhampton's Community Plan was the
result of extensive consultation and provided the "big picture"
and priorities for improvement. Three years on, the results of
annual consultations continue to influence the ways in which the
concerns of local people are turned into actions. The results
of the wide ranging Community plan consultations are fed back
via the Council's and the LSP's joint public newsletter, One City
News.
2.6 The Council has recognised the need
to be transparent and honest when dealing with members of the
public who participate in consultation, especially when the views
they express require officers or elected Members to make "tough"
decisions. There are times when service improvements necessitate
change, and in this instance, one of the important factors in
preparing to consult is to tell people why and how it will benefit
them in the long run.
2.7 The Council is increasingly required
to consult with the public, however, there is acknowledgement
that the sheer volume of requests made to the public for them
to express their views could lead to "consultation fatigue".
Every effort is made through the infrastructure in place to ensure
that co-ordination of activities results in less numbers of consultation
but which prove to be more effective. As part of the National
Project for local e-democracy the Council is working with the
Strategic Partnership to develop a consultation database, which
will rationalise the process of consultation, and improve the
use of the data collected to avoid repetition.
3. FIT WITH
LOCAL AUTHORITY
DECISION-MAKING
3.1 The responsibility for co-ordination
of consultation across the Council rests within the Office of
the Chief Executive, at the corporate core of the Council. Consultation
is also a key priority for individual service groups and integral
to the service planning process.
3.2 A continuing challenge for the Council
is the way in which it uses the information gleaned from consultations.
As previously stated, there are a number of activities being developed
which will help this process. A new Strategic Partnership website
is being developed where partner agencies will for the first time
be able to share information about good practice, publish details
of past, current and planned consultations and undertake online
consultations. Staff from a range of public agencies will be able
to sign up for public involvement training and toolkits of techniques
will be available.
3.3 To ensure that consultation activities
are more effective the Council has set up a number of mechanisms
to engage members of the public more in the decision making process.
For example, local people are encouraged to attend decision making
forums and involve themselves in service delivery Partnership
Boards. Examples of this are the Carer Forum, and the Learning
Disability Partnership Board.
4. ONGOING COMMUNICATION,
DISSEMINATION AND
PARTICIPATION
4.1 It is recognised that ongoing engagement
requires an interested and informed public, which in why consultation
activities are implicitly linked to the Council's Communication
Strategy. Work is currently underway to improve communications
across the Council, both internal and external.
4.2 Information sharing on the Council's
consultation activities and their results has been extended by
the development of One City News (the joint public newsletter
of the Council and the LSP), the Wolverhampton Partnership's website,
and through public-facing service sites such as libraries and
leisure centres.
5. BEST PRACTICE
5.1 One area of good practice in Wolverhampton
is that consultation activities are not undertaken in a vacuum.
The Council has developed, along with its partners, a Consultation
and Community Involvement Strategy, the only one of its kind,
which has been commended by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit.
5.2 From the outset, the Strategy has been
led by a dedicated officer within the Office of the Chief Executive.
This officer has supported a City-Wide Involvement Network, made
up of key partners and stakeholders from outside the Council,
and an internal Public Involvement Network Group (PING) for officers
within the Council who carry out public involvement or consultation
activities, across all five Service Groups.
5.3 Service Groups within the Council have
often worked together to meet objectives. Leisure and Social Services
have been particularly active in implementing ongoing consultations.
The Carer Support Team, for example, has been active in ensuring
carer involvement in decision-making, and has developed considerable
experience on ways to work together over time on projects in which
objectives are shared, allowing a more equal relationship.
5.4 Training has also been a major factor
in the effectiveness of consultation activities in Wolverhampton.
The Council was able to secure a discrete budget for consultation
training, and officers and practitioners from a range of public
agencies across the city receive training in a number of areas:
— Understanding public involvement.
— How to apply public involvement techniques
in various activities.
This training has had a major impact on the
way consultation is carried out in the city—staff from a
variety of agencies now have command of a variety of techniques
for public involvement.
5.5 A number of new avenues for consulting
the public have been developed by the Council. Recent years have
seen a greater emphasis on the use of IT for consultation (for
example, the recent development of a Wolverhampton e-panel), and
by more traditional means using high profile events such as the
City Show.
5.6 An important element of consultation
is a focus on on-going engagement with people who use services,
voluntary and statutory partners. One way this has been done successfully
within the Council through reference groups, with elected representatives
from the target group who are re-elected on regular basis.
5.7 The Council has also had some success
in involving those who might otherwise have difficulty in contributing
to the decision-making process. The Council won a Plain English
Award in 2003 for a series of leaflets for people with a learning
disability and their carers. The Award was made, not only for
the product, but also for the extensive consultation carried out
with people with a learning disability. A consultation process
resulted in changes in language and format to enable booklets
to be produced which are easy to understand. In order to show
transparency where particular changes were not possible, staff
clearly explained the reasons why.
5.8 The Council where appropriate pools
resources with its partners, and makes use of external funding
to carry out consultation activities. This has allowed the development
of larger research projects which the individual partners would
not have been able to manage singly.
6. REACHING NON-PARTICIPANTS
6.1 As one officer pointed out, non-participation
does not necessarily equate to disadvantage—it is acknowledged
that the vast majority of people do not wish to take part in any
sort of consultation exercise, despite having no material disadvantage
to prevent them. However, it is recognised that, to be fully inclusive,
a range of mechanisms need to be used.
6.2 In order to be as inclusive as possible
the consultation activities undertaken by the Council have been
conducted in a wide variety of settings, from Gurdwaras to launderettes.
This has served to raise an expectation amongst the population,
and even amongst those who would not normally participate, that
their voices will be heard.
6.3 Whilst it is recognised that it is only
one way of involving people, new on-line developments will aid
the inclusion of some groups who might not otherwise make their
voices heard, for example young men or "silver surfers".
The Council, together with the LSP, has recently established a
website which will, for the first time, allow partner agencies
to carry out on-line consultations and publish the results of
those consultations all in one place.
6.4 The Council is using a number of methods
to reach those who do not normally take part in consultations,
or, more frequently, those who do not use services. For example,
Leisure Services is about to commence a project on non-users of
service, through "monitored experience sessions" where
members of the public visit leisure sites in six different areas
of delivery, and then explore their experience through discussions
after the session. Leisure have concentrated particularly on people
with learning difficulties, people with mobility difficulties,
young people and people from BME communities.
7. CONSULTATION
AND NEW
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
STRUCTURES
7.1 Senior officers and Members are encouraged
to attend consultation forums, in order to ensure that consultation
has an impact on senior management. The Director of Social Care
attends the carer forum, and the chief executive of the PCT and
Cllr Helen King (Cabinet Member for Social Care) also attend meetings,
which adds legitimacy to the process, allows for proposals to
gain high level support, and contributes to evidence-based policy
making at the strategic level within the Council.
7.2 It has yet to be seen whether the process
by which decisions are made affects the ability of the citizen
to influence those decisions. The experience of officers is that
it is largely unimportant to the citizen which Cabinet panel made
a decision, or which service group proposed it in the first place,
and the new political arrangements may require a renewed effort
to help the public to understand the decision-making process.
7.3 However, the Performance Board, a forum
of top-tier managers, provides a regular opportunity for the results
of consultations to inform service improvements.
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