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STAGE ONE - WHY ARE YOU CONSULTING?

WCC Consultation Strategy – Good Practice Principle One Consultation Should Be Needed Before any new consultation begins, a thorough search will be made to find out if relevant questions have already been asked of the public. We will avoid unnecessary repetition and duplication. Consultation will aim to seek informed public opinion and not just instant reaction. Whenever possible, the Council’s communication mechanisms will be used alongside consultation to inform and stimulate public interest, particularly in relation to major strategic and countywide issues. Adapted from Bristol City Council Consultation Strategy

STAGE ONE – THE SUMMARY

This box gives you a brief summary of the main points in this stage. Click on the links below to find out more information on each point.

Be clear about what you are doing – where are you on the ladder of participation? Check the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner & Finder - do we already know the answer to your question. Do you really need to carry out this consultation? Carry out desk research and gather intelligence before you start. Click here for useful databases and information that can help Identify opportunities to link up with other consultation exercises Use the Toolkit to properly plan and deliver your consultation – complete the Consultation Project Plan  (159.50 KB) (Print this Word document, edit and use when planning your consultation) Make sure your manager/consultation commissioner signs off your project plan before you start Don't foget to involve local Councillors in your consultation Check whether this consultation needs Cabinet approval. This is needed for strategic/contentious consultations. For more guidance on when as issue is likely to be controversial see Guidance 1.1  (21.00 KB) Where possible design your exercise to be useful to others Make sure that you publicise your consultation Be clear about your budget - and where the funding will come from. See our model budgets for surveys and focus groups.  (30.00 KB) Register your new consultation on the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner & Finder database Go to Stage Two – What are you consulting about?

1.1. WORCESTERSHIRE’S MODEL – THE LADDER OF PARTICIPATION
1.2 DO YOU REALLY NEED TO CARRY OUT THIS EXERCISE?
1.3 DO YOUR RESEARCH
1.4 OK – USE THE TOOLKIT - PREPARE YOUR PROJECT PLAN!
1.5 MAKE SURE YOUR MANAGER/CONSULTATION COMMISSIONER SIGNS OFF YOUR PROJECT PLAN
1.6 DON'T FORGET TO INVOLVE LOCAL COUNCILLORS
1.7 DOES THIS CONSULTATION NEED TO GO TO CABINET?
1.8 CAN YOUR EXERCISE BE PLANNED TO ALSO BE USEFUL TO OTHERS
1.9 PUBLICISE YOUR CONSULTATION
1.10 WORK OUT YOUR BUDGET
1.11 REGISTER YOUR CONSULTATION ON ASK ME! - CONSULTATION PLANNER & FINDER
1.12 REMEMBER - KEY POINTS FROM STAGE ONE

1.1. WORCESTERSHIRE’S MODEL – THE LADDER OF PARTICIPATION

The Council has adopted a model called the Ladder of Participation that helps us be clear about what we want to achieve when engaging with the public.

Information: you tell people what is planned so that they are informed about what is happening Consultation: you are clear about what you are asking and why, what can and cannot be changed. You offer a number of options and listen to the feedback you get. The decision is made taking account of the results of consultation as well as other factors. Deciding together: you encourage others to provide some additional ideas and options, and decide with you the best way forward.   Acting together: not only do different interests decide together what is best, but also they form a partnership to carry it out. Supporting independent community initiatives: you help others do what they want - perhaps within a framework of grants, advice and support provided by the resource holder. (Adapted from David Wilcox 1994)

Think carefully – where are you on the ladder? You can use this ladder later on in the Toolkit to help you select the appropriate method for what you are trying to achieve.

1.2 DO YOU REALLY NEED TO CARRY OUT THIS EXERCISE?

CHECK THE ASK ME! – CONSULTATION PLANNER AND FINDER DATABASE

The Ask Me! – Consultation Planner and Finder has been designed to help us all to share information about: -

• What public consultation we have planned over the next year and ways we may be able to join up with each other – avoiding duplication, cutting costs and preventing our residents suffering consultation fatigue!
• What we already know – you will find results from consultations that have already closed on the database. Search by Topic/Target Group to find out what we already know – so you don’t ask the same question again
• What happened as a result of what we found out – consultation must make a difference to what we do – this tool allows us to demonstrate this by logging not just findings but the outcomes and decisions that followed

Before you start to plan your consultation, take some time to find out what we already know. Your question may have already been answered; look on the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner and Finder to see if there is other information that you can use. Don’t ask people the same question again!

Results that have been collected within the last three years may still be relevant – unless there has been a significant change in circumstances since that point.

Over time the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner and Finder will build up an archive showing consultation results that are over 3 years old. These may provide useful benchmarking data for comparison with latest results.

If you cannot find the information that you need check the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner and Finder to see if there is another exercise planned that you can join in with – try to join up with others wherever possible so that resources are used wisely and duplication avoided.

1.3 DO YOUR RESEARCH

As well as checking the database consider using the web to identify other studies that may have covered your topic already. Consider what other Authorities have done, there may be relevant regional and national research available.

Check what information is held by the District Councils, or Local Strategic Partnerships.
The Area Co-ordinators will be able to help you with this. Maggie Bryan (Malvern Hills, Wychavon and Worcester City) 01905 766103 and Nick Riding (Bromsgrove, Redditch and Wyre Forest) 01905 728515.

You could also contact similar authorities here or those in our Audit Commission 'family'

There are a number of Health and Social Care databases:-

www.wkp.nhs.uk

Worcestershire Knowledge Portal

The Worcestershire Knowledge Portal (WKP) is a gateway to nationally and locally funded information resources for health and social care staff in Worcestershire.  Resources include databases, full-text electronic journals, evidence-based resources and quick links to relevant appraised websites.  The site also includes information on local health and social care library services including the County-wide iLink catalogue of library resources.  The catalogue includes collections at Worcester, Redditch, Kidderminster and Evesham hospitals and the social care library collection recently relocated to the Rowlands Library at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Athens usernames and passwords

In order to gain access to many of the electronic resources you will need to register for an Athens username and password.  From the WKP home page simply click on the link to ‘Self Registration’ and complete the online form.  Once registered you will receive your login details by email within 7 days.

http://www.library.nhs.uk

This gives access to the Cochrane library and is an excellent source of evidence about the effects of health care.

www.ibss.ac.uk

The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is the online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. You will need an Athens password to access this site. It has over 2 million references to journals, articles and books. For details of registering for an Athens password please see above

www.nettingtheevidence.org.uk

This site provides a host of further links to journals articles and resources pertinent to evidence-based health and social care research.

If you know of other databases relevant to your field of work please let us know so that we can add them in to the Toolkit.

1.4 OK USE THE TOOLKIT - PREPARE YOUR PROJECT PLAN

OK – so you need to proceed. You should 'custom build' your consultation process so that it specifically suits what you are trying to achieve. Working through the steps of this Toolkit  (17.72 KB) will enable you to develop your Consultation Project Plan.

You need to think NOW about the timeframe for this exercise – when will a decision be made about the issue you are involved in? What budget do you have to carry out this exercise? How much staff time will be needed? Are there staff training needs that you need to consider now? The Consultation Project Plan will help you to work through the whole process. This project plan must be submitted to your manager/consultation commissioner before your project starts.

1.5 MAKE SURE YOUR MANAGER/CONSULTATION COMMISSIONER SIGNS OFF YOUR PROJECT PLAN

Your manager/consultation commissioner must sign off your project plan BEFORE your consultation can start. This provides a quality check - so that we can evidence that the advice provided in the toolkit is being followed.

1.6 DON’T FORGET TO INVOLVE LOCAL COUNCILLORS

Where local consultation is planned it is the responsibility of managers to ensure that local Councillors are kept informed and become part of the process. Click here to find out the Councillor for your area

The Area Co-ordinators can provide you with help and advice on contacting and involving local Members in public consultation. Contact Maggie Bryan (Malvern Hills, Worcester and Wychavon) 01905 766103 or Nick Riding (Bromsgrove, Redditch and Wyre Forest) 01905 728515.

Remember – Think Once, Think Twice, Think Local Member

1.7 DOES THIS CONSULTATION NEED TO GO TO CABINET?

A consultation plan needs to go to Cabinet where:

1) The consultation is on a strategic issue
2) The consultation is likely to be contentious / controversial. For more guidance on whether this might apply to your consultation click here  (21.00 KB).

Where strategic/potentially contentious consultation exercises are planned the Cabinet Member with Responsibility needs to be involved in the early planning stages - before the consultation starts. The Lead Member needs to be aware of, and have input to, the purpose of the exercise, the Consultation Project Plan and the key messages that the Council intends to communicate about this consultation. For strategic/potentially contentious consultation exercises the proposals should be approved by Cabinet before the consultation is undertaken.

Remember to flag up strategic/potentially contentious consultation exercises in the Cabinet Forward Plan. Consult your manager about the process for this in your Directorate.

The Member / Officers Relations Protocol  (231.95 KB) gives further advice on the distinctive roles of Officers and Members.

1.8 CAN YOUR EXERCISE BE PLANNED TO ALSO BE USEFUL TO OTHERS

Consider if you can plan your consultation in a way to be useful to other units, directorates or partner agencies - this would enable you to reduce costs, avoid duplication and minimise consultation fatigue.

1.9 PUBLICISE YOUR CONSULTATION

While you may make every effort to tell everyone that needs to know about your consultation exercise, you may not raise the awareness needed to ensure comprehensive feedback.

You need to develop a communication plan for this consultation. For small scale consultations this can be included in your project plan. For more complex consultations you may need to produce a seperate Communications Plan.

The County Council’s Corporate Communications Unit can help you to explore ways in which you can expand the awareness of your consultation exercise. In Worcestershire, the most effective – and cheapest – channel for publicising consultation activity is a newspaper article. To draft a media release and for help with a communications plan, contact the Communications Unit on 01905 766646 or click here to visit the Units website. Media Officers can share with you a template for drafting a release. See also the Communications Toolkit for further advice on Media Relations.

Other channels for publicising your exercise – including posters, leaflets, mail shots, emails, website, meetings – can also be discussed with the Communications Unit.

1.10 WORK OUT YOUR BUDGET

Consider now the costs of this consultation and how these will be met - as you complete your project plan you will become clearer about the methods that you will use and how much this consultation is likely to cost. Don't forget to factor in the costs of analysing your consultation (e.g. will you need to buy in data inputting for your survey results?), the cost of providing feedback and any costs associated with evaluation. Click here  (30.00 KB) to see an example of a budget for a postal survey and a focus group.

1.11 REGISTER YOUR CONSULTATION ON ASK ME! – CONSULTATION PLANNER & FINDER

Remember to register your consultation on the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner & Finder. Do this now - you should not publish this to the public website until your consultation has been approved by your manager. It is important to log it on Ask Me! now to maximise opportunities for 'joining up' consultations with others.

1.12 REMEMBER - KEY POINTS FROM STAGE ONE

Be clear about what you are doing – where are you on the ladder of participation? Check the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner & Finder - do we already know the answer to your question. Do you really need to carry out this consultation? Carry out desk research and gather intelligence before you start. Identify opportunities to link up with other consultation exercises Use the Toolkit to properly plan and deliver your consultation – complete the Consultation Project Plan Make sure your manager/consultation commissioner signs off your project plan before you start Don't forget to involve local Councillors in your consultation Check whether this consultation needs Cabinet approval. This is needed for strategic/contenious consultations. For more guidance on when an issue is likely to be controversial see Guidance 1.1  (21.00 KB) Where possible design your exercise to be useful to others Make sure that you publicise your consultation Be clear about budget  - and where the funding will come from. See our model budgets for surveys and focus groups.  (30.00 KB) Register your new consultation on the Ask Me! – Consultation Planner & Finder database Go to Stage Two – What are you consulting about?

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