Agenda item

Purpose of the report: Scrutiny of Budgets

This report presents an update on the council’s financial prospects and the key strategies to respond to the challenge presented in the next five year Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP 2017?22) to ensure it is both balanced and sustainable.

Witnesses:

Tim Vamplew, Research & Consultation Manager

Rich Stockley, Senior Manager – Research & Intelligence

Pat Hindley, Campaign Communications Manager

Paul Millin, Travel & Transport Group Manager

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    Members raised a query around costs involved with consultations and if there was any financial benefit of running consultations centrally. The Senior Manager stated that there was no annual cost figure available as each department runs their own consultations. Obtaining this figure would be difficult especially as the majority of cost involved was officer time.

2.    A Member queried what the benefit of setting up a ‘champion’s network’ would be. It was explained by officers that setting up this network would combat officer isolation and allow officers to network for more support on consultation work. The network is about connecting up people rather than creating new roles. 

3.    Officers stated that many lessons are learnt from setting up consultations. Officers carry out an evaluation as to how things have been done well and what could have been done better although it was recognised that not all services use the support offered by the Research & Intelligence team. Guidance on carrying out consultations with best practice was available on Snet and training courses were also offered to officers. Officers were also signposted to other courses outside of the county council including courses run by Surrey University.

4.    A Member queried whether work had been done to analyse common trends both positive and negative. The Senior Manager stated that 90% of the time consultations go badly because people do not use the expertise of the Research & Intelligence team and are inexperienced at running consultations.

5.    Listing some examples, a Member raised concerns that some consultations had been ineffective and hard to access for residents. The Board asked how officers ensured that all residents were reached as part of the consultation process. The Senior Manager explained that sampling was an issue and that the same residents or groups did often appear. The Campaign Communications Manager stated that in consultations where officers wanted a wider response, the Communications team would work with officers through various means to achieve this. Various channels of communications were used and targeting activity was also undertaken but it was recognised that evaluation after the consultation was essential to see how things had progressed.

6.    The Board expressed the view that sometimes consultations felt like they were based on pre-determined outcomes. The Senior Manager recognised that perception but explained that this would be counterproductive for the council. It was explained that in some cases it was might not be appropriate to consult whereas in others there is a statutory or legal obligation to do so, however, this scenario can only be addressed if the central team is approached in the first instance. 

7.    It was recognised that the Local Transport Review had been a huge success and was far reaching. The Travel & Transport Group Manager stated that his team had worked closely with the communications team to ensure all key audiences were factored into the consultation. The online option allowed for responses to be analysed quickly but as part of the Local Transport Review easy read and large font consultation leaflets were also made available. The Travel & Transport Group Manager confirmed that the Communications and Research & Intelligence teams were good for signposting services to other consultations that had been carried out effectively.

8.    Members queried whether the team advised officers on timings for consultations. The Senior Manager recognised that appropriate timings were essential and the team did not have any knowledge about the recent street lighting consultation. The Campaign Communications Manager stated that August was usually not a preferable time to consult.

Michael Gosling left the meeting at 11.40 am

9.    A Member questioned how all residents could contribute when consultations were mostly online. For those people with no online access, work was undertaken to ensure hard copies of consultations were made publicly available.

10.  The Chairman said that in difficult financial times there may be merit in setting up a task group to look at how best to carry out consultations across the county. The Board agreed to the setting up of this task group. The Chairman confirmed that recommendations listed in the report would be deferred to the task group to consider.

Resolved:

a.    That COB in conjunction with members from the Resident Experience Board convene a task group to investigate how consultations could be best run across the council.