Agenda item

To receive the Final Report of the Public Consultatons Task Group.

On 20 November 2018 the Committee established the Public Consultations Task Group to examine the number, purpose and method of public consultations taking place in Wiltshire.

Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Chairman of the Public Consultations Task Group, presented its final report and thanked all its members, as well as the supporting officers and contributions from the Executive.

The Task Group had concluded that there were issues of misused terminology in relation to public consultations. A formal consultation had a specific legal meaning, but only 14% of the activities referred to as such had been true consultations, with others being surveys or engagement exercises. Among other points, a consultation must be taken at a time where a decision can be genuinely influenced and changed, if appropriate. There were also concerns that there was a lack of expertise within the Council on how to operate a consultation, and a lack of consistency in their operation. The forthcoming Business Intelligence Hub would in future oversee this, but was not currently in place.

The Committee then debated the recommendations of the Task Group. It was agreed that there should be a review within 12 months to assess the level of implementation of any recommendations accepted by the Executive. It was acknowledged there needed to be sensitivity regarding communication of what was a consultation and what was an engagement exercise, and the wording of any consultation on a proposed decision needed to be clear and carefully prepared. It was suggested the report of the Task Group be shared with towns and parishes, some of whom would have similar issues in relation to consultations. The Committee also discussed whether there were any ways to appropriately assess the problem of a silent majority not responding to any particular issue.

Councillor Allison Bucknell, Cabinet Member for Communications, Communities, Leisure and Libraries, thanked the Task Group for their work and stated she would accept the recommendations and respond formally in due course. She noted there was a lot of work being undertaken in Communications and preparing the new Business Intelligence Hub as an internal service for the Council. There was also discussion of the precise wording of recommendation eight of the Task Group report.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

1)    To welcome and endorse the report of the Task Group and refer it to the Cabinet Member for Communications, Communities, Leisure and Libraries for response at this Committee’s next meeting.

2)    For this Committee to receive a report in approximately 12 months’ time about how any task group recommendations accepted by the Executive have been implemented.

3)    To ask that the Executive response to the report includes reference to how the ‘silent majority’ is considered when the council undertakes public consultations and engagement.

(For Information - List of Task Group Recommendations)

That the Cabinet Member for Communications, Communities, Leisure and Libraries considers implementing the following recommendations:

1.    To ensure that the Council is compliant with its own guidelines and consistent in its approach to public consultations, to update the sections of the following documents which relate to public consultations:

a)    Wiltshire Council: The Constitution

b)    Wiltshire Council: Consultation Strategy

2.    To ensure that the proposed Business Intelligence Hub has the necessary expertise and skills to manage public consultations:

a)    Additional expertise and advice to be sought, before finalising arrangements for the Hub

b)    The Hub to have the required specialist knowledge and skills to design effective and balanced consultation processes.

3.    In the interim period whilst the Business Intelligence Hub is established and to minimise the risk of the Council being legally challenged on its decisions, public consultations to continue to be managed by specialists.

4.    In order to ensure that the Council uses the appropriate process and terminology, corporate training to be rolled-out to all service areas on the difference between a public consultation and engagement/canvassing, and guidance to be provided on the internal processes for managing each of these forms of participation.

5.    For all future public consultations to be designed so that the public can respond with feedback that is directly relevant to and can directly inform the council’s subsequent decision making.

6.    For all public consultations to clearly state:

a)    the purpose of consulting the public on the proposal

b)    the process that the Council will follow when making its final decision and where a respondent’s contribution fits into this chain of events.

7.    The same principles as set out in recommendation six to also apply to any form of public engagement, canvassing/surveys.

8.    For all decision-making papers to clearly set out how respondents’ views have actively influenced the final decision made.

9.    For Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to consider receiving a report in approximately 12 months’ time about how any of the above recommendations accepted by the Executive have been implemented.