Public consultation and engagement

Some of the issues identified were common to many public authorities involved in consultation and engagement in that information from consultations was not shared across partners or in some cases within organisations. This meant that basic questions were often asked of local people every time information was requested. We found that little use was made of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other demographic information, as it seemed not to be easily available. This meant that outside sources needed to be used instead of a shared resource that was easily accessible. We also found that databases of contacts for consultations were not shared. A variety of good practice guides were available both locally and nationally but not shared, with the result that organisations were thinking of writing new ones and consequently duplicating effort.

In summary, we found that the main issue was lack of co-ordination not just across the LSB Partners but also within organisations themselves, with each partner organisation carrying out consultations in their own way.

Having identified the areas that needed to be addressed a series of options were proposed highlighting an action plan for the short, medium and long term. This action plan included financial costing, people resources and organisations to be involved to take the work forward. These recommendations also included a range of technology that could be used to simplify the sharing of information both with stakeholders and communities.

Importantly, funding sources that could be used to take the project forward were also identified.

The recommendations and the action plan were accepted and taken forward by the LSB using the identified funding.

Mostyn James, LSB chair welcomed the report and the challenges that lay ahead. “The work that Socitm Consulting did has provided us with evidence to support our feeling that we did not co-ordinate work both across and within our organisations. The consultant worked with us to engage local people on the issues and options presented in the report gave us a clear set of choices to make positive changes in this area.”

Project identification

Client organisation: Merthyr Tydfil Local Service Board
Client contact: Suzanne Davies, Tele: 01685 725484, email: Suzanne.Davies@merthyr.gov.uk
Lead consultant: jenny.brogden@socitmconsulting.co.uk
Project number: 7076
 

In order to achieve this vision LSB engaged Socitm Consulting to help them assess how all the partners could best consult with the public in order to ensure that citizens were are the heart of planning the future of service delivery. The LSB were keen for all the LSB partners to work jointly so that consultations could be co-coordinated, follow best practice and with a view to savings through joint working.

Our consultant carried out interviews with partners, stakeholders and people working in the community. To follow through on good practice, half-day workshops were carried out to feedback the information and findings that were coming out of the research both to stakeholders and communities.