Agenda item

To present the report of the Head of Corporate Transformation.

The report of the Head of Corporate Transformation incorporating a proposed plan for conducting the public consultation process on the 2018/19 Budget during the period from the week commencing 6th November to 29th December, 2017 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services reported that the initial internal stage of the Budget consultation process i.e. with Elected Members and Officers within the Council has been completed. The second stage which involves consulting with the citizens of Anglesey on the resulting proposals must be as far-reaching, inclusive and thorough as possible and needs to cover the whole Island. The process follows the pattern set in recent years in drawing on a range of channels to reach as many citizens as possible including the press, town and community councils, stakeholder workshops, the internet, social media, the citizens’ panel and children and young people’s workshops. The Portfolio Member said that he anticipated that social media would feature prominently in this and next year’s consultation as a means of presenting citizens’ comments. However, one of the key objectives is to ensure that the process engages with the more vulnerable groups within the community and that their views are heard.

The Head of Corporate Transformation said that a great deal of work has been done by the Corporate Engagement and Consultation Board to review the process following last year’s public consultation exercise and to ensure that the Council is aware of, and makes use of new ways of engagement and consultation with Anglesey’s citizens at all levels.

The Committee considered the proposed Financial Proposals Consultation/ Communication Plan and made the following points –

•           The Committee sought clarification of how the Council monitors and remains up to date with comments made via Facebook and Twitter.

The Head of Corporate Transformation said that responding to comments made via social media channels is an integral part of the work of the Council’s Communications Unit. As regards the financial proposals, the intention is to ask a range of questions which respondents will be asked to indicate whether they agree or disagree thereby enabling the Council to obtain a better gist of what citizens feel about particular proposals. This element of the consultation is therefore fairly easy to track and collate. The Communications Unit is also used to dealing as part of its day to day work, with more lengthy responses to Council matters and such responses to the financial proposals will be dealt with in the normal way.

•           The Committee noted that the Council had conducted a review of last year’s budget consultation process to see what worked and what could be improved. The Committee sought clarification of the conclusions arrived at and the improvements implemented as a result of the review exercise.

The Programme and Business Planning Manager said that in considering this year’s Budget consultation plan at its meeting on 12 September, 2017, the Engagement and Consultation Board noted that engagement with and responses by the Council’s partners could be improved. To that end there will be emphasis on getting together a Partner’s Forum so that this discussion can take place on the basis that as the public sector in totality continues to operate within an increasingly challenging financial environment, it is important to be able to collaborate to ensure the best possible responses. Also, as part of this year’s exercise, the Council will go out weekly with a series of specific and targeted questions for Anglesey’s citizens including on Facebook and other social media; this in itself is a new and improved approach on that undertaken in previous years which essentially involved going out to the public with the proposals wholesale.

•           The Committee noted that it is the Council’s intention to try to consult with all stakeholders. The Committee also noted that engaging effectively with harder to reach groups is a challenge; the Committee sought clarification therefore of the steps the Council has taken to identify those groups and the measures it has put in place to engage with them.

The Programme and Business Planning Manager said that engagement and consultation development work undertaken by the Corporate Engagement and Consultation Board has led to a strong partnership with Medrwn Môn and specifically within that organisation, with the Local Voices project which provides a link to harder to reach stakeholders. As a result of this partnership, and this forum in particular, the Council is in a better position to be able to garner the views of these individuals whose voice might not otherwise be heard.

•           The Committee noted that as part of the Consultation Plan, comments will be presented through children and young people’s workshops. The Committee sought assurance that these workshops are provided with the necessary information to enable the participants to offer a considered view on the Council’s proposals.

The Head of Corporate Transformation said that Llais Ni together with several other partners is a permanent member of the Council’s Corporate Engagement and Consultation Board which ensures that the Council’s perspective on engagement and consultation is as encompassing and thorough as possible.

The Chair said that Llais Ni (Anglesey’s Youth Council) visits the Council once a year (at Budget setting time). It was his view that these visits should occur at least twice a year as a matter of good practice and should involve regular engagement with Scrutiny and the Executive.

•           The Committee noted that in some previous years it has been a criticism of the consultation plan that it is couched in language that is sometimes difficult to understand and that the level of detail is not sufficient to explain what some proposals mean nor what they entail.

The Programme and Business Planning Manager said that the feedback from last year’s consultation plan indicated that the public found certain proposals to be unclear. The Committee’s views are sought as to how clear and comprehensible it finds this year’s draft consultation plan. 

Having considered the Plan, and having been satisfied on the points of clarification raised, the Committee was happy to recommend its implementation to the Executive. It was resolved to agree to the proposed Budget Consultation Plan for 2018/19 and to recommend its adoption by the Executive.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED