Consultation & Market Research Strategy
Summary
Ambitions
On December 14th 2005 The Council agreed that:-
- The Council should have a co-ordinated approach to consultation
and market research based on agreed corporate standards
- Training and on-going support should be provided to service
staff to develop competency in planning, commissioning and
evaluating consultation /market research
- Standard corporate tools and approaches should be developed and
used (unless an exceptional case to vary from this is
demonstrated)
- Feedback should be given to consultees on the outcomes of any
consultation, and the impact on Council policy and/or service
delivery
- Results of market research/ consultation should be made
available for information to all areas of the Council, with
adherence to FOI and the DPA.
… to ensure that consultation and market research activity is
efficient, effective and courteous
Evidence
A review was undertaken to inform the strategy and ensure that
it is relevant and reflects the needs of the authority, service
areas and residents. The review included meetings with
officers, focus groups with residents, questions in Voicebox, and
an appeal in Council News. Officers from all parts of the
Council were invited to help shape the review and strategy through
a steering group.
Additionally, ‘Improving Consultation’ was a theme picked out by
the Culture Development programme through its slice workshops with
staff, members, union representatives and partners.
Efficiency
It is impossible to calculate the cost of market research and
consultation activities but there is evidence of inefficiencies
arising from a lack of co-ordination:
- Where officers are unable to identify whether any existing data
could be used in place of undertaking new research
- When consultations are undertaken with the same stakeholders,
sometimes on similar subjects, at the same time
- When consultations and surveys are not fit for purpose and fail
to generate useful submissions or data
- When consultations are designed to fulfil specific short
term objectives and lack a long term corporate
perspective
The Council’s approach to consultation needs to adapt to meet
the efficiency aspirations developed in the Gershon report.
To achieve this we will need an organised and co-ordinated approach
that increases efficiency through reducing duplication and
waste. The Council also needs to ensure that it is prepared
to act on the findings of the research or consultation so that it
is not wasted.
Additionally, the strategy will aim to implement a more
corporate outlook to improve comparability and consistency of
results so data can be more widely and more frequently
used.
Effectivness
There are two main aspects to effective consultation; firstly,
that of effectively undertaking a consultation project and
secondly; effectively acting on the findings.
The organisation can and does conduct effective
consultations. However, there have been high profile examples
(identified by both the local press and the CPA) where we have not
been as effective as we should be.
Some of the criticism is a result of a lack of skills or
experience of individual officers, or the amount of time or
resources available to them. However, in the instance of
responding to residents’ priorities for the area, this is a
corporate responsibility and a lack of a sophisticated measure
means that we are open to justified criticism from the CPA.
We need to improve effectiveness by ensuring that the necessary
skills, support and resources are available. Consultations
also need to fit within an overall framework- so input can be used
for corporate and service level purposes.
In addition, we should aim to achieve a structured and
integrated role for market research within decision making to
ensure customer focus, maximise resources and increase take-up and
relevance of services, (as recommended by Laria and the
LGA).
Courtesy
There is no evidence to suggest that contact that we have with
residents when carrying out consultations is not polite and
friendly, although it can be hard to select appropriate
methodologies for consulting with some groups (particularly the so
called ‘hard-to-reach’ groups).
The key issue is having the courtesy to listen and act, or to
show that we are listening and acting. There was some
evidence in focus groups that the public feel that the Council is
not interested in what the public wants. Some respondents
suggested that consultation is ‘lip service’ and that the Council
sets its own priorities, undertakes unpopular projects and makes
unpopular decisions regardless of what the public thinks.
This sort of criticism is common in the public sector but is not
always justified.
The review confirmed that officers sometimes struggle in the
area of ‘expectation management’, in particular being clear about
what we are consulting on, and then feeding back. This is
important because raising expectations, which are then not
realised, will negatively impact on the reputation of the
Council.
To address this, officers should always ensure that their chosen
method is suitable for the target audience, that consultees are
properly thanked, and that they understand the extent to which
their views will be / have been / can be taken in to account.
Public awareness of the Council’s genuine aspiration to reflect
the public’s wishes needs to be raised, as does the publics’
understanding that the Council must take in to account a range of
other issues when making decisions. This will increase
awareness of the organisation as a ‘listening council’ which will
increase overall satisfaction.
Measurement of Success
Performance Indicators will be introduced, and once a baseline
is established, targets will be set. Performance indicators may
include:
- % of people who feel that the Council takes notice of it’s
residents views
- % of people surveyed who feel that the Council is ‘very
good’ or ‘excellent’ at involving the public in decision making
processes
- % consultation exercises which directly influenced a decision,
shaped policy, or service delivery
- % of consultation exercises done as a joint exercise between
departments or partners
- % of consultation exercises where results were fed-back to
consultees / the public
