New Localism

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neighbourhoods and Public Services: Evidence from Local Government
New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neighbourhoods and Public Services: Evidence from Local Government
January 2005 Jane Aspden and Demelza Birch Local and Regional Government Research Unit Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: London
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CONTENTS
Key Findings Summary
Chapter 1
Introduction and Background

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Chapter 2 Introduction Description of this digest New Localism, community and funding models Looking forward
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11 11 13 16
Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Chapter 3 Introduction The importance of effective relationships with local people, users and residents: the context for new localism Partnership working at the local level collaborating to enhance participation Models of local participation and involvement in decision-making what do we know so far? The effects and impacts of devolved decision-making
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17 18 54 59 73
Examples of user involvement in service delivery and strategic decision making

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Introduction Example 1 Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) and Tenant Participation Example 2 New Deal for Communities Example 3 Neighbourhood Management Example 4 Best Value Example 5 A case study of emerging lessons from New Council Constitutions Example 6 The importance of partnership working case study of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs)
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80 83 95 97 103 109 119
Chapter 4
Examples from further afield

4.1 4.2 4.3 Introduction Evidence and background from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales International examples and case studies
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134 135 137
References
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The Local and Regional Government Research Unit (LRGRU),within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), has undertaken a review of existing evidence around the topic of new localism and produced a research digest. New Localism is taken to refer broadly to active participation by citizens in local democracy and decision making. The particular focus is user involvement in service delivery and decision making, and the review is a contribution to the ODPM perspective, and to broader debates. Much of the evidence collected comes from the ongoing research of LRGRU (for example long term evaluations of Best Value, Local Strategic Partnerships, New Council Constitutions). The remainder comes from other ODPM work, other government departments and other external and academic research work. It does not aim to cover all available material, and concentrates on findings relevant to local government. The key findings are presented in three sections:
Findings on local democracy, engagement and participation Findings from a series of case studies of services and areas most advanced in engaging users in service delivery and decision making Findings from further afield; Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the European Union and worldwide.
This summary presents the key generic messages, further evidence and case studies are available in the full report.

Effective working with local people: The evidence shows that there are a number of different factors and issues that may affect the publics attitude to participating in local politics and decision-making. These include:
public perceptions of, and understanding in, local government; having the time and resources to participate; whether people believe getting involved is worthwhile i.e. they care about the outcome and feel that they can make a difference;
New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services
factors specific to minority and under-represented groups: issues of accessibility, discrimination, cultural barriers.

With these issues in mind, the new localism agenda requires consideration of the following:
initiatives to improve the publics understanding of local government and their capacity to participate effectively; better communication with the public, and more transparent local government processes and ways of working, to improve public perceptions of, and trust in, local authorities; well managed and marketed involvement and participation initiatives to ensure they present as little a burden as possible, whilst providing clear outcomes and benefits for individuals and the community. This will include making best use of social networks and associations; all of the above must be tailored to meet the specific needs of different groups in society, particularly those from minority and under-represented groups.
VOTING
There is extensive research to suggest that attitudes to electoral outcomes and the political processes are generally more important factors when electors come to decide whether or not to participate, rather than the process of voting. This research also found that there is a substantial segment of the population who make a decision not to vote for reasons of political disconnection... for this group the mechanics of voting is not a critical factor.
PARTNERSHIP WORKING Authorities have long been seeking to understand the needs and interests of their communities in order to inform local partnership activities (for example, around social exclusion issues). This community involvement either takes the form of voluntary sector or umbrella involvement on behalf of communities, or more active community involvement. The latter is often considered more meaningful. Authorities can collaborate with other organisations at the local level to enhance community engagement in a number of ways:
sharing resources and good practice on communication; jointly providing information, for example to local residents;
undertaking consultation; joint planning on communication and strategy.
MODELS OF PARTICIPATION Local government continues to push forward the agenda on public participation and there has been a considerable uptake of participation initiatives by local authorities between 1997 and 2004. Authorities clearly recognise the benefits of engaging the public and are increasingly trying to consult people in local decisions and developing service delivery. However, it seems that authorities more often involve people in decisions in more passive ways. There are a variety of methods and initiatives local authorities might use to engage the local people from surveys and referenda to focus groups and forums depending on the subject matter for consultation, the target audience(s) and depth and/or representativeness of information an authority requires. Evidence shows that authorities are looking to more innovative and deliberative ways to involve people research and good practice guidance offers many examples of what individual authorities are doing in this area. Local authorities are also considering how best to promote engagement of traditionally hard-to-reach groups, such as young people, black and minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities, etc. Authorities tend to favour smaller-scale, deliberative approaches, such as focus groups or forums, for these citizens. There is, however, the question of whether authorities have the capacity to respond effectively to these additional requirements. IMPACTS OF DEVOLVED DECISION MAKING To date there has been little assessment of the extent to which participation and consultation exercises actually influences decision-making processes, although there are some case study examples.

EVIDENCE OF IMPROVED LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT
There is clear evidence and good examples of genuine efforts by local authorities to improve consultation, participation and engagement of service users and residents as a whole, for example, through: Best Value via consultation as part of service reviews; New Council Constitutions, through Area Based decision-making structures; regeneration initiatives, through New Deal for Communities, Neighbourhood Management; and, tenant participation, through, amongst other things, Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs).
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Different forms of engagement range from user feedback through, for example, extensive consultations, user involvement in policy making and budgeting decisions to users delivering their own services. Engagement may be area-based, service-related or specific issue focused. Although, in general, as noted above, the approaches taken by authorities to facilitating participation tend to be more passive than active.
IMPACT OF MORE DIRECT PARTICIPATORY INITIATIVES The chapter of case studies, though, deliberately examined some of the more active approaches, in particular, those involving direct user engagement in service delivery or decision-making and found:
overall satisfaction and performance levels in situations where users are delivering a service tend to be at least as high, and often higher than local authority provision (e.g. Tenant Management Organisations); there are broader community benefits from more direct user involvement, for example, TMOs acting as a local focus for social and community development activities and successfully promoting improved security; there is evidence that closer working between local authorities and users, and the latter being more actively involved in both consultation and delivery, can be positive in delivering better quality and value for money services.
CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS The following areas are highlighted in terms of the need to enhance capacity for successful development of active user participation:
for service users and other partners to develop key skills and competencies in, for example, managing performance, contracts and contractors, employment and personnel and health and safety issues, and to allow sufficient time and resources for this to happen; a potential pump-priming budget to develop capacity and training; the need to enhance capacity not just at the level of the individual initiative level but also at an area and authority-wide level to ensure continuity, coverage and representation.
CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS The following areas are highlighted in terms of the need to enhance capacity for successful development of active user participation:
for service users and other partners to develop key skills and competencies in, for example, managing performance, contracts and contractors, employment and personnel and health and safety issues, and to allow sufficient time and resources for this to happen; a potential pump-priming budget to develop capacity and training;
the need to enhance capacity not just at the level of the individual initiative level but also at an area and authority-wide level to ensure continuity, coverage and representation; to ensure links are created between individual initiatives within and between authorities in order to foster networks and share learning and resources; clear demarcation of responsibilities between the council and local users/deliverers of services, possibly through explicit management agreements or contracts; making use of existing successful structures for participation/engagement, wherever possible, to avoid re-inventing the wheel.
MAINSTREAMING Ensuring that initiatives are part of the mainstream of service provision, in order to avoid sidelining opportunities for more direct user engagement through creating very specific and limited programmes:
the need for residents/users to get involved at an early stage in planning and decision making in relation to service delivery; a need for a coherent strategy for promoting the organisational development of service user groups/forums across a local authority; making sure that user forums, panels/boards and steering groups are not isolated but are closely linked into authority-wide decision-making structures about policy and service delivery.
MAINTAINING REPRESENTATIVENESS Representativeness of those involved is a key issue raised in this chapter.
satisfaction, for example, within TMOs was particularly high amongst black and ethnic minority residents: 81% were very satisfied, compared to 51% of nonwhite social sector tenants; research has also found that women and black and minority ethnic groups are better represented on the boards of TMOs than amongst elected members of local authorities; there are, however, some specific concerns reflected in the research: to make sure systems for ensuring representativeness used by local forums/boards etc. are appropriate and not overly simplistic; and to ensure that people are not recruited from too narrow a band.
OTHER IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
There is vital need for good quality area and neighbourhood-based data and analysis to underpin new forms service delivery and expenditure that reflect user choices and needs.
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Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) may have an important role in developing local authority structures for participation and engagement but, at present, they are in early stages of development and have tended to concentrated on specific consultation initiatives rather than a broader, strategic approach to engagement.
Evidence from further afield

The review has examined some of the available research evidence on international examples. It is clear that trying to find ways of effectively devolving service delivery to local people is something which is being addressed in European countries and also world-wide. The case studies looked at illustrate the following points:
Community Planning Partnerships. It is important that mechanisms used are truly representative of the community and not just communities of interest or geographical areas of interest. Inclusiveness. New localism needs to ensure that it is both participatory and fully inclusive. Particular attention needs to be paid to social exclusion and equality and diversity issues. Organisational frameworks. Whilst there is a need to avoid excessive bureaucracy some case studies show that new localism type initiatives require new organisational frameworks. This could include for example a new local authority department to co-ordinate the initiative and encourage joined up authority working. Working relationships and new community networks. New localism initiatives require new working relationships to be built between the community and the authority as well as within the community. Education, training and consultancy. Authorities that have offered education and training to community organisations and citizens as well as providing consultancy in strategic development are more effective.
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CHAPTER 1

1.1 Introduction
New localism is an area which is receiving increasing interest within Government and much wore widely. The specific area of attention addressed in this digest is the role of local government in working with service users in the design and delivery of services and to a lesser extent in terms of neighbourhoods. New localism has a broad scope, but is characterised for the sake of this digest in terms of improving practices and structures in order to contribute to:
Decentralised decision making Better local decision making Revitalised local democracy Civil and community renewal.
One of the key aspects addressed here is the degree of participation and control which local people have, or feel they have, about the services and environments which have a direct impact on their lives, across a spectrum, from minimal user feedback and satisfaction surveys to, for example, tenants working to provide their own services.
1.2 Description of this digest

This digest brings together of the body of evidence held by the Local and Regional Government Research Unit (LRGRU) within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). It also includes some of the wider evidence from elsewhere in ODPM, other Government Departments and external research, to give a broader context and a range of examples. Given the interest in this subject, a number of similar research projects and summaries of evidence are currently being undertaken both within and outside Government, including focus on areas outside local government. The aim of this one is to present a range of existing evidence from various sources in the same place for the first time. It is offered as a description of other research, to facilitate discussion and contribute to the evidence base. It does not attempt to interpret the material, nor is it a statement of ODPM policy intention. Inevitably, this digest is cannot be a complete review of evidence.
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Here is a brief outline of the chapter contents: Chapter 2 Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation addresses the research findings on local authorities efforts to engage the public in decisionmaking. It covers:
public attitudes towards, and trust in, local government; the role of community involvement in partnerships and joint working; initiatives to engage local people; tailoring participation approaches to meet the needs of minority and underrepresented groups; and the impacts of engaging the public in terms of accountability, service improvement and capacity to effectively engage with the community.
Chapter 3 Examples of user involvement in service delivery and strategic decision-making presents a number of case studies where evidence exists in terms of public participation in local services both in decision-making and delivery. The case studies cover:
Tenant Management Organisations and tenant participation Board elections for New Deal for Communities Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders New Council Constitutions Best Value and Local Strategic Partnerships.
Chapter 4 Examples from further afield presents some of the evidence from other areas of the United Kingdom, the European Union and around the world, and gives examples of other countries also being involved in widening participation in decision-making and choices around service delivery. The evidence here has been gathered under four broad themes, which are used throughout the digest: Theme 1 The importance of effective relationships with the public Theme 2 Partnership working at the local level Theme 3 Models of local participation and involvement in decision-making what do we know so far? Theme 4 Effects and impacts of devolved decision-making service delivery and accountability
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1.3 New Localism, community and funding models

There are a number of key issues which while relevant, cannot be addressed in full within the constraints of this digest, but which are extremely pertinent to the debates into which the evidence here is a contribution. 1.3.1 DEFINING NEW LOCALISM There is no single agreed upon definition of New Localism, and it is useful to think about the range of concepts and ideas covered. These four broad areas, reiterated below are the key ones addressed in this digest and some further areas are outlined below:
Decentralised decision making Better local decision making Revitalised local democracy Civil and community renewal.
Some of the contributors to these debates are listed here in footnotes and references, though this is by no means an exhaustive list. Ed Balls, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, in his foreword to New Localism: refashioning the centre-local relationship1 outlines the current Governments approach to alternative methods of governance and accountability, setting out that any increased local power must be balanced with improved accountability and long term goals, and looks forward to further debate over the direction of the role of local government and governance. The authors refer to the concept of earned autonomy, where those organisations which perform well are given greater freedoms in how they run, and describe the shift from crude command and control centralism to what they term steering centralism, which rests less on command and control and more on guiding local discretion without being domineering or over anxious on the finer detail. Their particular take on New Localism in this paper is to posit a move towards some radical steps, and not relying on a system where ultimately all accountability systems lead to central government and its ministers2, but rather, spreading capacity, responsibility and accountability more widely so Central Government can and should take its share of the burden but it should not carry it all.3 The key to what the positive outcome of such localism might be, is, for the authors, the delivery of the quality public services so desired by our citizens.
1 2 3
Corry, D and Stoker, G 2002 New Localism: refashioning the centre-local relationship New Local Government Network Riddell, P 2002, New Labour is in danger of trying to do too much The Times, 2 September Corry, D and Stoker, G 2002 New Localism: refashioning the centre-local relationship New Local Government Network 13
In counter to such views, and perhaps towards the opposite end of a continuum of debates, Walker4 suggests that what is needed is, in a sense, more, not less centralism, if we are to reduce inequalities across the nations, and move towards equalisation. For Walker, there are some changes which can only be achieved from a strong central position, for example, fair distribution of wealth and resources across regions. He also argues that central targets are essential to stimulate, motivate and provide local service deliverers with a map of where they should be heading. Another contribution to debates is The Adaptive State5. This collection of essays covers a range of areas which might benefit from greater adaptability and participation, across public services, including democracy, mobile technology and education. The introduction offers a description of the context for New Localism, describing attempts to outline how it is possible to offer their citizens security and reliability while also providing choice, diversity, flexibility and responsiveness. Also identified is the difficulty in demonstrating how their promises convert into coherent action and tangible outcomes. It is suggested that casting this as a battle between centralism and localism misses an important dimension of the argument, and that reform depends not only on the level and scale at which decisions are taken or performance is measured; it will require greater adaptive capacity in organisations at every level of the system.... We need systems capable of continuously reconfiguring themselves to create new sources of public value. 1.3.2 GEOGRAPHICAL COMMUNITIES AND COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST Community is one term which also requires some definition, in order to progress in understanding both the types of participation currently taking place, as described here, but also for future policy developments aimed at improving democratic participation and quality of services. As Gaventa reminds us, even fifty years ago, Hillery6 found over ninety definitions of community. There is a vast literature on this subject, but some useful working definitions cover one of the key differences:
geographical areas, and, communities of interest.
Geographical areas might include, for example, counties, neighbourhoods, districts, parishes, estates and so on. Communities of interest might include faith groups, cultural groups, age related groups such as pensioners, specific interest groups, for example those concerned with addressing traffic issues, or healthcare. They may also be groups which individuals have chosen to join.
4 5 6 Walker, David 2002 In Praise of centralism: A critique of the new localism Catalyst Bentley, Tom and Wilsdon, James (eds) 2003 The Adaptive State: Strategies for personalising the public realm, Demos Hillery, C.A 1955 Definitions of Community: Areas of Agreement, Rural Sociology, No 20 June pp 111-123 cited in Gaventa, John (forthcoming) Representation, Community Leadership and Participation: Citizen Involvement in Neighbourhood Renewal and Local Governance, NRU,ODPM
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One point which is clear from literature and the evidence presented here that it is the combination of addressing both geographical communities and communities of interest which is critical to the success of locally based initiatives. One example of this is that Area Based Initiatives need to undertake extensive mapping and profiling exercises in order to understand the current provision and future needs of areas. There is also a need to ensure that decisions and structures are not solely implemented on an ad hoc basis, but that there is some strategic overview and co-ordination. 1.3.3 FUNDING MODELS This is another area where there is extensive literature and discussion, for example stemming from the work of OPM7, NLGN8 and IPPR9. The Prime Ministers Strategy Unit10 has also contributed on this subject. While a fuller exploration of the different type of funding models available is not possible here, there are some key points which can be stated:
There are a wide range of possible financial models available for the provision of services, across the spectrum from national and local government to control to the private sector, for example11: Companies limited by guarantee Industrial and Provident Societies Private or public limited companies owned by users of a service Public or private limited company, wholly owned by the Government Share trusts Trusts and special organisations Charity
There is no one type of funding structure or organisation which is best for providing local services, and the decisions on how to fund should be taken on the basis of the specific nature of initiatives and mainstream projects, rather than trying to fit the provision to the funding model. It may be that a range of options is the best approach.
7 8 9 10 11
OPM 2001 The Case for the Public Interest Company: a new form of enterprise for public service delivery OPM McClean, Iain and McMillian, Alistair 2003 New Localism, New Finance, New Local Government Network Maltby, P 2003 In the public interest? Assessing the potential for public interest companies IPPR Strategy Unit 2002 Private Action, Public Benefit Prime Ministers Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office Maltby, P 2003 In the public interest? Assessing the potential for public interest companies IPPR 15
1.4 Looking forward

Overall, these types of developments and debates point to institutional changes in the running of organisations, alongside the need to empower, engage and build capacity in local communities. The overall context for this digest is that in the field of Local Government, ODPM is currently leading a debate in a vision for local government in ten years time. A series of documents are being published to inform the overall vision and the specific issues to be considered within it. Research findings such as those here are also being used to inform this work. The initial document, The future of local government: developing a 10 year vision, launched in July 2004, sets out the key concerns: One of the Governments key priorities is to create sustainable communities places where people want to live and that promote opportunity and a better quality of life for all. Local Government has a vital role in this. Sustainable communities require an environment of good governance, public participation, partnership working and civic pride. Effective local government is at the heart of each of these. Local government also has a vital part to play in working with local people to create the conditions that underpin a sustainable community; a flourishing local economy; good quality public services; a diverse, vibrant and creative local culture; community cohesion; and a sense of place and pride. For further information on the local:vision work, or to access these publications, please refer to http://www.odpm.gov/localvision or contact localvision@odpm.gsi.gov.uk In this context, then, this digest, then presents key evidence available from LRGRU, and contributes to exploration of wider research and issues.
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CHAPTER 2

2.1 Introduction
This Chapter presents theory and research findings on local authorities efforts to engage the public in local decision-making. It draws upon a range of qualitative and quantitative research studies, plus some good practice guidelines, from a variety of sources. The Chapter begins by providing background and context, looking at the challenge of engaging the public by considering: a) public perceptions and understanding of local government; b) levels of, and attitudes towards, involvement in local government, issues of trust, and the relationship with satisfaction; and c) the factors that might determine perceptions, understanding and levels of involvement it also reflects upon how these issues vary amongst different groups in society. The second section briefly considers the role of community involvement in local partnerships, drawing specifically on the example of joint working to tackle social exclusion. It also looks at the extent to which local authorities have been collaborating with other organisations and agencies at the local level to enhance public participation and involvement. (The wider issue of partnership working at the local level is dealt with in Chapter 3.) The third section deals explicitly with the nature and extent of local authority initiatives to engage local people. It provides survey evidence and case study examples relating to public participation and consultation initiatives and innovative approaches to local elections. This section also looks at how local authorities are tailoring approaches to participation to meet the needs of minority and underrepresented groups. The fourth and fifth sections look at the effects and impacts of engaging the public: firstly on, accountability, service improvement and diversity of local councils; and, secondly on the ability and capacity of authorities to effectively engage the community.
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2.2 The importance of effective relationships with local people, users and residents: the context for new localism
KEY FINDINGS Different research studies have pointed to a number of different factors and issues that may affect the publics attitude to participating in local politics and decision-making. These include:
interest in, and understanding of, local government and local politics; trust in their local council and councillors, some of key drivers of which are keeping promises and learning from mistakes, honesty, what friends/family say, communication/information provision, independence, being treated well by staff, etc.; satisfaction with service delivery the key drivers of which are user expectations, service awareness, service importance, corporate brand/image, perceived value for money, communications and information provision, service delivery, contextual/local factors and levels of deprivation; access to resources and income and, therefore, the capacity to participate; demographic factors, for example, age, gender, socio-economic group, whether from ethnic minority, etc., are relevant to satisfaction as well as participation; having the time available to participate, which is particularly relevant when considering being councillors, which is affected by personal circumstances, primarily working, education and family responsibilities; the style and way an authority chooses to communicate with and consult its citizens positive experience of participation leads to growing commitment over time. This emphasises the importance of effectively managing the process, as well as citizens/users expectations; involvement in social networks and associations; attitudes to the outcomes of electoral and participative processes whether people feel there is anyone or any issue worth voting for, and whether they believe their vote/opinion will make a difference and achieve benefits for the community; social capital attitudes to other people, levels of trust in other people and level of attachment to neighbourhood there are differing opinions on the extent to which social capital has an effect; Experience of formal or informal volunteering the latter of which seems motivated by knowing someone in need of help or being asked to get directly involved.
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People from minority and under-represented groups12 may be further disadvantaged and discouraged from participating because they are either more affected by these factors, or because they face additional deterrents or difficulties:
women and young people, including those from ethnic minority populations (which have a younger age structure) tend to have less time available to participate; direct and indirect discrimination; feeling that their views are not represented largely because the lack of diversity amongst local councillors; issues of accessibility; cultural barriers.
With these issues in mind, the new localism agenda requires consideration of the following:
initiatives to improve the publics understanding of local government and their capacity to participate effectively; better communication with the public, and more transparent local government processes and ways of working, to improve public perceptions of, and trust in, local authorities; well managed and marketed involvement and participation initiatives to ensure they present as little a burden as possible, whilst providing clear outcomes and benefits for individuals and the community. This will include making best use of social networks and associations; all of the above must be tailored to meet the specific needs of different groups in society, particularly those from minority and under-represented groups.
The following sections provide evidence of how local authorities are increasingly taking this issue forward and making real efforts to consult and engage local people in local decisions.
2.2.1
PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING AND PERCEPTIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT One of the most persistent and well debated concerns about local democracy has been relatively low turnout in British local elections. Given this low level of electoral participation, attention has shifted to consider why people do not get involved at the local level and how local authorities might use alternative ways of engaging the public13. It is commonly agreed that vital local democracy rests upon people possessing a good understanding of local politics and having an interest in it. Studies show that the more knowledgeable and interested electors are, the more inclined they are to participate in the democratic process. This is true of voting, attendance at meetings, standing as a candidate or engaging in any other form of
12 13 This includes people from black and ethnic minority communities, those with disabilities, young people and women, etc. DETR 2000 Revisiting public perceptions of local government: a decade of change 19
political activity. As a result, the persistently low levels of public understanding of, and interest in, local government is an enduring concern.
Interest
Respondents to the 1998 British Social Attitudes survey claimed disinterest in local government as the main reason for not voting in local elections (24%), with one-fifth saying they had been too busy to vote (20%)14. There is some disparity in research on the extent to which people would like to be involved with their local authority, for example: Research by MORI looking at how well local authorities connect with their communities15 suggests that most people are content to take a passive interest in the activities of their local council the majority of local residents surveyed indicate they like to know what the council is doing, but are happy to let them get on with their job. Aggregated data from residents surveys undertaken for local authorities since 1998, indicates that over half prefer to continue taking a passive role, while around one in four want further involvement, more specifically:
56% would like to know what the council is doing, but happy to let them get on with their job; 24% would like to have more say in what the council does and the services it provides; 14% are uninterested in what the council does as long as they do a good job; 3% work for, or are involved with, the council; 1% are uninterested in what the council does or whether they do a good job.
While research detailed later in 2.2.4 suggests, for example, that 55% say they would definitely be interested in being involved in the decisions their council makes. When looking at a survey in which local government is viewed in context with national politics and government16, based on a set of questions about politics broadly, 43-45% of the public are well informed about politics, and the questions which were most frequently answered correctly were those about local government rather than national or European politics. The report suggests that this indicates that local government is the publics most immediate interface with the democratic process. It is important to note that there is a higher level of interest in specific issues than in politics, although it is worth noting that many people who could be regarded as civically active, such as parent governors or tenant representatives do not consider themselves political. The two should not, therefore may not be regarded as entirely distinct.
14 15 16 20
Chivite-Matthews, N.I. and Teal, J. 2001 1998 British Social Attitudes Survey: secondary analysis of the local government module, DTLR ODPM 2000 Connecting with communities improving communications in local government Electoral Commission 2004 An audit of political engagement
There has been no change in the proportion of the population claiming to have recently presented their views to an MP or councillor, and the level has been constant at around 15% for many years.
Understanding
A poll of adults in England and Wales commissioned by the LGA17 examined knowledge about local democracy and local government. In 2002 the poll found 52% of respondents knew a great or fair amount about local councils, 35% knew a great or fair amount about local councillors and 20% knew a great or fair amount about elected mayors. This year, questions were asked about council tax and services that local councils provide. Topline results reveal:
Council tax typically funds and/or accounts for 25% of all costs to provide local services. In contrast, results from the research show public perceptions estimate that this figure is much higher. A combined total of up to 69% think council tax funds up to 75% of all costs to provide local services. Less than 1 in 10 (0.7%) think it covers between 76% up to 100%, and over a quarter (26%) dont actually know. Respondents were asked to demonstrate their awareness of services provided by local councils. The largest proportions of local council budgets are spent on education and personnel social services. When asked to name 5 local council services, environmental and environmental related services were mentioned most frequently at 67%. Transport and cultural services followed with 32% and 30% respectively. See Table1 below.
Table 1: Could you name five local council services?
Services Environmental services Transport services Cultural services Education services Social services Housing and housing related services Trading standards services Planning services
Table base: 2010 adults in England and Wales
% 67 32 30 20 14 9 6 3
MORI also emphasises that most people know little about their local council see Table 218. This is perhaps not surprising when we consider how often the majority of residents realise they may be using services provided by their local authority. Parents with children in school, those receiving social services and people living in council housing may have more contact with local councils, whilst others are likely to base perceptions only on the high visibility environmental services such as street cleaning or refuse collection.
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LGA 2002 Want to know what I think? 2002 a telephone survey of knowledge and views about local democracy and local government in 2002 MORI 2002 Five years of communications: A review of Local Authority Communications 21
Table 2: How much if anything, do you know about your local council?
Great deal Fair amount Just a little Hardly anything Never heard of Dont know
Base: 1,758 GB residents, Source: MORI
5% 27% 42% 24% 0% 1%
Multi-tiered agencies or departments provide public services. This can result in a lack of clarity as to who is providing the service provider. For example, The Annual London Survey 2002 (carried out by MORI on behalf of the Greater London Authority) asks respondents what they think the responsibilities of the London Assembly are. Table 3 below sets out the time series data for this question for a selection of services. This data demonstrates the lack of clear understanding by respondents over time about where responsibilities lie, (with the exception of public transport and roads, both of which have had intense media coverage since the creation of the London Assembly).
Table 3: Looking at this list, please tell me which of these, if any, the London Mayor/London Assembly has responsibility for?
London Mayor 2000 2001 2002 Base: All respondents Public transport Roads Representing London in Great Britain Environment Co-ordinating London Boroughs Representing London abroad Strategic planning Regeneration Setting budgets for Transport, Development, Police and Fire Authorities Police % 61 33 47 33 43 31 n/a 28 % 55 33 36 28 28 23 21 20 % 63 42 40 30 29 25 25 25 Change % +8 +9 +4 +2 +1 +2 +4 +5 London Assembly 2000 2001 2002 % 27 18 20 20 25 15 n/a 18 % 17 10 10 11 12 9 10 9 % 18 14 14 12 13 11 14 12 Change % +1 +4 +4 +1 +1 +2 +4 +3
30 30
18 18
21 20
+3 +2
20 20
9 7
12 11
+3 +4
Scrutiny of budgets for Transport, Development, Police and Fire Authorities 31

Source: The Annual London Survey 2002, MORI
17
20
+3
22
11
13
+2
Compared to the rest of England, London is unique in its structure of governance. However, national research has also shown that survey respondents are often unclear about who provides specific services. Table 4 below (based on research by MORI for ODPM19) shows which agencies are perceived to provide different services by residents in a southern county, which mirrors patterns across the country. Respondents were asked whether they thought services were provided by their local district/borough council, by the county council, or by central government. As we
19 22
ODPM 2002 Connecting with communities improving communications in local government
can see, there is particular confusion over social services and some local environmental services, particularly household waste sites. The correct responses are shown in bold. Although most pronounced in two-tier areas, the confusions with central government will clearly impact on all authorities.
Table 4: For each service please tell me whether you think it is provided by your local district/borough council, the county council or central government
District (%) Schools Council housing Support for elderly/mental health/disabled people Public transport Refuse collection Pre-school and nursery education Libraries Sports and leisure facilities Social security payments Fire service Trading standards Parking/public car parks Protecting children at risk from harm Looking after roads, pavements and street lights Household waste sites (tips)
Base: 1,023 residents 18+, Source: MORI20
County (%) 65 27 35 45 22 44 63 29 17 60 34 23 39 44 32
Central Government (%) 15 4 16 14 4 15 3 3 60 18 32 4 26 6 2
14 62 39 28 69 26 27 57 13 16 16 66 19 48 59
This echoes earlier research21, which found that confusion over service provision to be higher in two-tier areas see Table 5 below
Table 5: Perceptions of who provides services (two-tier areas) 1999
Service Local Council (%) 81 79 23 5 38 9 14 42 13 County Council (%) 16 18 74 10 60 10 67 43 36 Central Govt. (%) 1 2 7 2 68 15 5 39 Other (%) 3 1 75 1 3 1 5 10 Dont Know (%) 1 2 2 4 2 12 6 8 5
Rubbish Collection Street Cleaning Public Libraries Electricity Roads and Pavements Jobseekers Allowance Schools Home Helps Hospitals
Note: Multiple responses were allowed, thus some rows sum to more than 100% Base: 101621
20 21
MORI 2002 Five years of communications: A review of Local Authority Communications DETR 2000 Revisiting Public Perceptions of Local Government: a decade of change 23
The link between familiarity and satisfaction: users vs. non-users As suggested earlier, low levels of understanding about local government is considered a factor in low public engagement. Furthermore, public awareness of service provision is said to be one of the key drivers of satisfaction across public services. The influence of knowledge of, and familiarity with, local government services of levels of satisfaction is demonstrated by the fact that customer satisfaction surveys have consistently demonstrated that users are more satisfied with services than non-users. For example, in response to the question how satisfied are you overall with the cultural and recreational services your local authority provides, 74% of users were satisfied compared with 35% of non-users and, whilst only 17% of users were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 58% of non-users fell into this category. Those dissatisfied represented 9% of users and 7% of non-users22. These findings are borne out across a range of services, illustrated in the boxes below:
Satisfaction with local authority service areas (2003/04 BVPI General Survey) Planning Services Personal Social Services
61% users satisfied 26% non-users satisfied 31% satisfied overall
71% users satisfied 27% non-users satisfied 33% satisfied overall
Housing Services 64% users satisfied 23% non-users satisfied 30% satisfied overall
Cultural and Recreational Services 74% users satisfied 35% non-users satisfied 46% satisfied overall
Transport Services 67% users satisfied 34% non-users satisfied 51% satisfied overall
Education Services 75% users satisfied 39% non-users satisfied 48% satisfied overall
22 24
ODPM 2004 Best Value User satisfaction Surveys 2003/04: General Survey Initial Topline Report
BVPI results by use and frequency of use (2003/04) Local Transport Information (BVPI103)
Of those who have seen transport information, 68% satisfied Those who have not seen transport information, 34% satisfied
Local Bus Services (BVPI104) 60% of users satisfied 32% of non-users satisfied
Sports and leisure facilities and events (BVPI119a) Use service almost every day 81% satisfied Used within last six months 58% satisfied Never used 28% satisfied
Libraries (BVPI119b) Use service almost every day 91% satisfied Used within last six months 74% satisfied Never used 28% satisfied
Parks and Open Spaces (BVPI119c) Use service almost every day 85% satisfied Used within last six months 67% satisfied Never used 26% satisfied
The issue of satisfaction is explored further in section 2.2.3.
Trust
Defining trust There is no one universal definition of trust. In one sense trust is about honesty and telling the truth, but in the context of public services it can also be about wider considerations around service delivery. Levels of trust Recent research23 by MORI (based on a survey and focus groups) has looked in some detail at the levels and drivers of public trust in the public sector specifically local councils, the NHS and the police. The research treated trust as synonymous with confidence and satisfaction, and based on the outcome of the service and the way it is delivered. It has shown that whilst overall ratings of public sector organisations are generally positive, and levels of trust are similarly high, people are more critical of local councils. Generally speaking, the public remains critical of the public sector on the following:
The level of information they provide; The quality of management; and, in particular Openness and honesty in handling mistakes.
23
Audit Commission 2003 Trust in public institutions 25
Levels of trust vary considerably across different organisations and groups. For example, doctors, teachers, professors and judges are all highly trusted, whereas politicians, journalists and business leaders are not trusted. The recent Citizenship Survey24 conducted by the Home Office echoed these findings, showing that:
People expressed the greatest trust (trusted a lot/a fair amount) in the police (80%) and the courts (73%). These figures were stable between 2001 and 2003. People trusted political institutions less than the police and the courts, and they trusted national less than local political institutions, although people's trust in political institutions has risen between 2001 and 2003: 51% of people trusted their council in 2001, compared with 54% in 2003. for parliament, the figures are 36% in 2001, 38% in 2003.
The Welsh and Greater London Authority were trusted by 44% and 43% of their constituents in 2003. People most likely to trust the local council: Lived in areas classified as Affluent Greys, rural communities or Affluent Urbanites, Town and City Areas (ACORN) Were in the youngest (16-24) or oldest (75 or over) Were single or widowed Were of Asian, African or Chinese origin Were long-term unemployed or had never worked, or were full time student. Lived in the 50% most deprived areas in England Were middle aged Were cohabiting Were of Black Caribbean ethnic origin Were in the small employers and own account workers or lower supervisory and technical socio-economic groups.
People least likely to trust the local council:
The MORI research indicated that people make a distinction between individuals working for an organisation and the organisation as a whole. The former tend to be trusted more; people trust those they have most contact with (such as front-line staff), while they are more suspicious of bureaucrats or management. Also significant is a perception that there is something about the system in itself that is inherently untrustworthy; people perceive the organisation to subordinate the good intentions of individuals. Furthermore, the research suggests that trust in institutions (not individuals) is declining over time reasons include:
24
Public expectations have risen over time.

The Home Office Citizenship Survey is a biennial survey designed to help monitor PSA 8 and PSA 9; to enhance the community policy evidence base; to explore social capital; and to contribute to civil renewal policy. The 2001 Citizenship Survey comprised interviews with a representative sample of 10,015 adults in England and Wales, and an additional minority ethnic boost of 5,460 adults the largest survey of people from minority ethnic groups undertaken in England and Wales. Home Office 2004 2003 Citizenship Survey: People families and communities.
26
Decline in deference to authority; people are less willing to accept Government or expert advice without question.
Key Drivers of trust It seems that trust in local councils and satisfaction with services are intrinsically linked later (in section 2.2.3) we talk about trust as being a driver of satisfaction and this research by MORI found that trust is, to a large extent, about the way in which services are delivered. Regression analysis found the following to be key drivers of trust:
Keeping promises Learning from mistakes What friends and family say about services Staff treating people well Being interested in peoples views Quality of public leaders and managers.
In this research, people displayed negative perceptions of local councils on five of the key drivers listed the one exception being staff treating people well. The way a council interacts with people is essential: research25 showed the following issues to be important in developing trust:
More information and openness Independence How personable an organisation is in the way it delivers services and communicates with the public front line staff are vital in developing the trust relationship.
Trust is closely linked to the issue of accountability someone to take overall responsibility for services. People often trust the public (as opposed to private) sector more because the service is accountable to the public. This obviously has implications for who delivers a service at the local level and who is seen to be in control and accountable. Leadership also has an important impact on levels of trust in organisations. The public sees four key attributes as being critical for senior public sector managers and leaders:
Honesty Trustworthiness Communication ability Competence.
25
MORI/Audit Commission 2003 Trust in Public Institutions, new findings: a quantitative study 27
The public does not rate senior public managers highly across any of these attributes. Thus, visible leadership would seem to be a key factor in addressing the publics perception of remote and unaccountable organisations and bureaucrats. What are the implications of declining trust? The research reveals a weak relationship between levels of trust in an organisation and levels of use and engagement with services. This is particularly pertinent where there are no alternatives, for example with some local Council services in these cases it would appear some avoid contact with services they do not trust unless it is absolutely essential. This can have a direct impact on how well services meet the wider communitys needs particularly if people are less willing to help a council plan and deliver its services.
Do levels of understanding and perceptions of local government vary amongst different groups in society?
Interest Evidence shows that young people were especially disinterested and perceived local government as remote from their life and interests; older people were the respondents with the most interest in, and knowledge of, local government26. The decline in interest among young people may particularly affect ethnic minority voters, given the younger age structure of ethnic minority populations. Trust MORIs survey research found variations in trust by socio-economic groups to be noteworthy by their absence. It, therefore, appears that trust is more closely related to values and beliefs, which cut across standard socio-economic circumstances. That said, the qualitative research did suggest loss of trust is more pronounced among black and minority ethnic communities, who feels they are not treated equally or sufficiently represented in public services. 2.2.3 PUBLIC SATISFACTION WITH SERVICE DELIVERY
Levels of satisfaction
As mentioned in section 2.2.1, there seem to be links between satisfaction, trust, and the extent to which people participate in local government. The 2003/04 Best Value user satisfaction surveys found that the majority (55%) of the general public are satisfied with the way in which their council runs things and with the services delivered. Furthermore, a survey over 2,500 residents in the autumn of 2001 (as part of the long term evaluation of Best Value27) relating to perceived overall levels of performance and satisfaction with a wide range of services found that:
Overall, 63% of respondents were either very or fairly satisfied with their local authority see Table 6.
26 27 28
Chivite-Matthews, N.I. and Teal, J. 2001 1998 British Social Attitudes Survey: secondary analysis of the local government module, DTLR ODPM 2003 Evaluation of the long-term impact of the Best Value regime Baseline Report
Satisfaction is highest for the quality (67%) and efficiency (57%) of council services but lowest for meeting standards it sets itself (32%) and setting challenging targets (32%) see Table 7. Satisfaction was highest for county councils and lowest for district councils.
Other surveys also indicate there is more satisfaction than dissatisfaction with how councils run things. The Best Value pilot (1998) found that 54% were very or fairly satisfied; A Decade of Change (1999) had a figure of 72% and the Survey of English Housing (1999-2000) had a figure of 68% (also Table 6). A decline in overall satisfaction with local government found between the 2000/01 and 2003/04 surveys is a not entirely unexpected given that other surveys, such as the Peoples Panel, have shown similar trends in time series data over the last 5-10 years (see table below). The decline has not led to a large increase in those dissatisfied the move from those satisfied has been to the neither satisfied nor dissatisfied category. Across several service areas, such as transport, waste (recycling and disposal), leisure and recreation and parks and open spaces, there have been significant gains made with increased satisfaction since the last round of surveys. Significant investment in services, such as local buses, is reflected in satisfaction ratings. Service users, in particular, have uniformly higher levels of satisfaction than non-service users (see table below). Moreover, residents who use services frequently are more likely to be satisfied. Preliminary analysis has shown that there is a clear relationship between feeling well informed about an authority and being satisfied (see table below). Over fourfifths (89%) of those who felt very well informed and almost three-quarters (71%) of those who felt fairly well informed were satisfied with the authority overall. This compares with a national average of 55%. In addition, those who feel very or fairly well informed are more likely to think that the authority has got better over the last three years. These analyses suggest, and are supported by results by service use, that contact with the authority through regular service use or information provision is related to high levels of satisfaction.
29
Table 6: Resident satisfaction with their local authority

Survey (base numbers) Percentage of citizens satisfied with the overall service provided by their authority Satisfied (%) Best Value Satisfaction Surveys 2003/04 (575,748) Peoples Panel 2002 Best Value Satisfaction Surveys 2000/01 (538,992) Peoples Panel 2000 (923) Survey of English Housing 19992000 National Centre for Social Research 1999 (2,074) Best Value Pilots 1998 (2,488) Peoples Panel 1998 55 Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied (%) 30 Dissatisfied (%) 15
47 65
26 23
21 12
50 68 72
23 N/a N/a
23 27 26
54 53
17 26
25 18
Question wording varies across surveys. Where percentages do not add up to 100, this may be due to the inclusion of dont knows. The Best Value user satisfaction surveys do not include dont know responses in the calculation of % satisfied. Please note that some surveys use different scales and this may have an impact on ratings.
Table 7: Residents perceptions of the image of their local authority

Strongly Agree % The quality of council services is good The council gives good value for money The council treats all people fairly Local people have a say in how council services are provided The council delivers services efficiently The council sets itself challenging targets The council meets the service standards it sets itself 7 4 6 3 4 3 3 Tend to Agree % 60 39 45 37 53 29 29 Neither Nor % 17 26 26 20 22 42 43 Tend to Strongly Disagree % Disagree % 13 24 16 32 15 20 19 3 8 8 9 6 6 6
Source: Residents Survey, 2001. N = 2,568. Data are unweighted.
30
Drivers of satisfaction
A recent internal paper28 has drawn together research and information (from MORI and others) on measuring customer satisfaction. This paper indicates that there are a range of key drivers that determine satisfaction:
Expectations Trust Service Awareness Contextual Factors Service Importance Corporate/brand image.
However, expectations, satisfaction, levels of trust, service awareness, etc., do not exist in isolation from one another, and are all influenced by similar external factors and are, indeed, affected by each other. Furthermore, a MORI report29 on satisfaction looks at how people regard their local authority as a whole and the factors that have the greatest impact of residents satisfaction. The report concludes that in statistical terms, public satisfaction with local councils is something local government can only partially influence via direct service delivery. It suggests that a number of other factors, including levels of deprivation and local infrastructure, have a strong relationship both with perceived quality of life and how people feel about their council. This report indicates that the following issues are factors in levels of satisfaction:
Impact of perceived value for money (VFM) Communications and information provision Service delivery Deprivation.
It is obvious that the issue of determining satisfaction is a very complex one, and a range of different analyses, whilst overlapping to an extent, do point to different and additional factors. Here we deal with some of the most recent analyses of satisfaction and discuss the key drivers revealed by these pieces of research: expectations; service importance; impact of perceived VFM; communications and information provision; service delivery; and, other contextual and local factors. (The issues of trust and understanding in local government/service awareness are also said to be drivers of satisfaction and have already been dealt with in section 2.2.1).
28 29
Laura Williams, LRGRU ODPM 2003 Measuring customer satisfaction internal paper MORI, 2001 Frontiers of Performance in Local Government 31
Expectations Findings from the Best Value Pilots30 indicate that councils are generally falling short of peoples expectations on the critical aspect of service provision. Only 5% feel that the services provided by their local council generally exceed their expectations, whilst more than one in three think that they fall short. In terms of perceptions over time, slightly more people think the services provided by their local council have got worse rather than better over the last two years (17% compared to 13%). Service importance MORI31 suggests that there is an important link between satisfaction and service importance/salience. By plotting the services that people think are the most important against those which they think need the most improvement, an authority can see which services/areas should be prioritised. A 2001 MORI survey of British adults showed that activities for teenagers, crime and public transport and so-called streetscene services (e.g. street cleaning and lighting) are of high salience for people and regarded as the services most in need of improvement. Perceived value for money (VFM) MORI32 suggests that there is a strong relationship between overall satisfaction with the council and ratings of the value for money of council services. This is not surprising, as these are both overview questions that encompass general attitudes to the council. The residents survey (conducted as part of the long-term evaluation of Best Value33) revealed that 39% of residents tend to agree that their council gives good value for money and a further 4% strongly agree with this statement. Furthermore, over half (53%) tend to agree that their council delivers services efficiently and a further 4% strongly agree that this is the case.
Extract from Table 7 (above) Residents perceptions of the image of their local authority
Strongly Agree % The council gives good value for money The council delivers services efficiently 4 4 Tend to Agree % 39 53 Neither/ Nor % 26 22 Tend to Strongly Disagree % Disagree % 24 15 8 6
Earlier research34 shows that, at most, a third of people (33%) overall believe that council tax offers very good or good value for money. A roughly equal proportion of people said council tax provides poor/very poor value for money (30%) and 32% said it provides neither good nor poor VFM.
30 31 32 33 34 32
DETR 2001 Improving Public Services: Final Evaluation of the Best Value Pilots Programme MORI 2002 Peoples Panel, wave 5 (all respondents, base 1086) MORI 2001 Frontiers of performance in local government ODPM 2003 Evaluation of the long-term impact of the Best Value regime Baseline Report ODPM 2002 Revisiting Public Perceptions of Local Government a decade of change
Table 8: Proportion saying council tax is very good or good value for money, by
% ...local authority type Two-tier Metropolitan London borough Unitary ...local authority political control35 No overall control Other Labour Total 38 37 30 33 502 507 1065 2074 36 35 30 28 1040 487 242 305 Base
Communications and information provision Not only is the extent and quality of communication with the public important in determining levels of understanding of local government, but it is also a factor in the level of trust in the council and satisfaction with services. Those who feel that they are well informed about the council tend to be more positive about the authority on a wide range of issues. Research by MORI36 showed that half the respondents on the Peoples Panel37 feel that their local council keeps them either very or fairly well informed (50%). This is far lower than the numbers of users who feel informed by companies such as BT (89%), but is also lower than some council-run services such as local primary schools (89%), adult education (79%), refuse collection (64%), and council housing (63%) again highlighting the lack of awareness over who provides the information. Table 938 below shows recent findings, which when compared to findings over time, shows that residents have generally felt more informed over the last few years, with district/borough councils continuing to be better rated than other type of authority reflecting the relative closeness residents feel there is with their district/borough council, as opposed to their county in two-tier areas. It is, however, important to bear in mind the fact that there is a huge range of performance across local government, with differences of up to 35% between the best and the worst over the past few years.
35 36 37 38
In two-tier authorities, respondents were classified by the political control of the County Council. MORI 2002 Connecting with Communities The Peoples Panel is a panel of 5,000 nationally representative people run on behalf of the Cabinet Office, 1998-2002 MORI 2002 Connecting with Communities 33
Table 9: Perceived levels of information by authority type

Authority All MORI clients All 1996 onwards BV Pilots: All County councils London boroughs Metropolitan boroughs Unitary authorities District councils
Base: 1,023 residents 18+, Source: MORI
well informed (%) 46 48 45 42 52 39 47 49
limited information (%) 50 48 50 52 45 57 48 45
net information (%) -4 0 -5 -10 7 -18 -1 4
MORI research39 indicates that, in terms of the information people want to receive from their council, the focus is very much on what the council spends money on, how to access services, and improvements planned for them. Interest is much lower in how the council is performing in terms of BVPIs. For more detail see Table 10 below.
Table 10: Which three or four items would you most like to see included in the Council newspaper
What the council spends money on Information on council services Details of who can help you at the council How Council decisions affect you Local events and recreation facilities Planning issues New items about Council activities Education services Environmental protection Highways maintenance Information on how well the Council is performing
Source: MORI
58% 47% 37% 37% 30% 29% 23% 23% 19% 18% 16%
Furthermore earlier research40 reveals similar findings:
58% felt that their local council kept them very or fairly well informed about the services it provides, but only 39% could say the same about financial matters. 18% said they had not seen any information about their local councils finances and 42% said there wasnt enough financial information. 70% said their council had not used any of the consultation initiatives provided in the questionnaire. Only two methods public meetings (11%) and postal questionnaires (10%) were mentioned by one in ten respondents or more. Those aged 18-24 (80%) were most likely to say they had not been consulted in any way, compared to 67% of those aged 45-59, and 72% of those over 60.
MORI, 2001 Frontiers of local government performance DETR, March 2000 Revisiting public perceptions in local government: a decade of change
39 40 34
2000/01 best value user satisfaction surveys found that 61% of council tenants who responded also stated they were satisfied with the opportunities they have for participation in management and decision making.
MORI suggests that communications do make a difference to overall levels of satisfaction with the council, but form only part of the picture: in some authorities, residents perceive the council as a poor provider of information, but rate them highly overall. The relationship between overall ratings and communications provision about services is strongest in county councils perhaps because few people have direct contact with their county council or its services, and therefore communications can have a bigger impact than in (say) districts, where people will be looking to see evidence on their street of the effectiveness of local services. MORI has also found that perceived remoteness is strongly related to ratings of the council on value for money. So it would seem that getting across messages about value for money is key demonstrating the impact of good services, and clearly showing how the authority is in touch with its community. Service delivery Three factors limit the impact of service delivery on overall perceptions:
confusion over who delivers what (for more detail see 2.2.1); many services are only used directly by a minority of the population at any one time; different expectations for some services in different areas (see also above).
Of all the services MORI has examined, street cleaning is closely related to satisfaction with councils as a whole perhaps because it is one of their most visible services. There is also a weak relationship between satisfaction and key measures of staff performance, e.g. helpfulness. The strongest finding is that those who have no contact with their authority tend to be more positive than those who do. However, (as mentioned earlier) generally users of services are more satisfied than non-users. So this finding on contact may reflect those who contact the council to complain rather than those who are regular service users. Contextual and local factors Generally, it is found that in areas where deprivation is higher there is lower satisfaction with public services see Chart 1 below.
35
Chart 1: Satisfaction with Council versus deprivation score

Net satisfaction with Council 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Deprivation score (IMD 2000)
Source: MORI, 2001
However, when other key drivers (e.g. expectations and levels of service usage) of satisfaction are considered along with the influence of deprivation, this relationship seems a little less clear41:
The difference in use of services between people living in deprived and non-deprived areas is an important factor. This may lead to a difference in expectations of services, depending on the extent to which people in a locality use private sector services, as this will shape their expectations. Thus, if people in deprived areas have little contact with private sector services they may have lower expectations and therefore higher levels of satisfaction with local services. People from deprived areas are often more heavy service-users and, as mentioned previously, users tend to have higher levels of satisfaction than non-users.
This same research found that six (out of forty) public services were rated differently between areas with high levels of deprivation and those with low levels: residents in deprived areas are less satisfied with refuse collection, public parks and recycling facilities. Along with levels of deprivation, MORI have considered the extent to which there are a wide range of different ethnic minority communities in the area they call this ethnic fractionalisation. MORI argue that the more heterogeneous a community is, the greater the level of dissatisfaction. The report concludes that by knowing the level of deprivation and ethnic diversity in an area they can predict attitudes towards the council to within relatively small ranges.
41 36
Duffy, Bobby , 2000 Satisfaction and Expectations: Attitudes to Public Services in Deprived Areas, and MORI 2001 Frontiers of Performance in Local Government
Other background variables analysis according to socio-demographic characteristics finds, to varying degrees, that there is a statistical relationship between stated satisfaction and age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic group and disability. This is explored in more depth below.
Do levels of satisfaction differ between different groups?
In terms of overall satisfaction, the 2000/01 Best Value surveys found the following relationships between sub-groups and levels of satisfaction:
Satisfaction increases with age, so that those over retirement age are the most satisfied by age. This is also reflected by the finding that retired respondents were the most satisfied by occupation at time of survey (72%). Overall women and registered disabled people were more satisfied than men or non-disabled people. Respondents from ethnic minority groups are, generally, more likely than white British people to say they are dissatisfied with the overall service offered by their local authority. Other black respondents expressed the highest levels of dissatisfaction (28%), followed by African Caribbean and Pakistani respondents (both 21%).
2.2.4
PEOPLES VIEWS ON GETTING INVOLVED IN LOCAL DECISIONS
Why do people get involved?
Participation in general Numerous research studies have looked at the extent to which people become involved and the issue of why people participate and why they vote. A few of the most recent studies are dealt with here. The Home Office Citizenship Surveys42 address a range of themes including what it means to be a good citizen; peoples involvement in their neighbourhoods; and, social and community participation. Some of the key findings from this research are: Rights and responsibilities: (there is little variation between 2001 and 2003. Figures for 2001 are shown in brackets)
96% (96%) agreed that you cant demand rights as someone living in the UK without also accepting the responsibilities. 83% (85%) agreed that people are entitled to basic human rights, regardless of whether they are a good person or not. But only 36% (34%) agreed that if people would mind their own business, our society would be a better place.
42
Home Office 2003 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey: people, families and communities 37
Influencing political decisions: There has been a drop in those agreeing they could influence decisions.
In 2003 38% of respondents agreed (definitely agreed/tended to agree) that they could influence decisions affecting their local areas compared to 43% in 2001. Only 19% in 2003 agreed they could influence decisions affecting Britain compared to 24% in 2001.
Peoples involvement in social networks:
In the 2003 survey 41% of people said they had friends or neighbours round to their home at least once a week and a further 24% said they had them round to their home at least once a month. The pattern was very similar for how often people went out socially with friends or neighbours, 42% at least once a month, 25% at least once a week. Pakistani, Bangladeshi and people of mixed race were the most likely to have friends or neighbours around to their homes at least once a week (58%, 55% and 52%). Bangladeshi and people of mixed race were most likely to say they went out with friends or neighbours at least once a week (56% and 52%)
Social participation: In the 2001 survey, 65% of people participated socially in groups, clubs or organisations (being a member, attending meetings or events, playing in a team) at least once in the last 12 months. This is equivalent to approximately 27 million people in England and Wales. Who gets involved? On the question of whether there are superactivists that is the same people engaging in civic participation, informal and formal volunteering:
While there is some overlap, participation actually spreads across the majority of the population. In 2003 18% had taken part in all three types of activity, in the twelve months before, 79% had been involved in at least one.
In addition to the Citizenship survey, this issue is being addressed, in Citizen Audit43 research (conducted as part of the ESRC programme on democracy and participation), which considers peoples general attitude to being involved in society and local networks. The full research is due to be published in Autumn 2004, but findings include:
Peoples organisational commitments are extensive and range beyond donating money, to donating time, effort and commitment. One in three donate more that one hour of each week to organised clubs, groups and associations, as well as informal networks and neighbourhood support groups.
43 38
For example, in Seyd, P., Whiteley, P. and Pattie, C. 2001 Citizenship in Britain: Attitudes and Behaviour (pp141 8) in Crick, B. (ed) Citizens: towards a citizenship culture Blackwell
There is the suggestion of a strong voluntary spirit among people when asked whether they would be willing in various ways to participate the responses were positive for the following: Participating in a neighbourhood watch scheme 70% Giving blood 68% Helping renovate a local amenity 55% Assisting with meals on wheels 44%.
There were a wide range of political activities, particularly informal, in which people were engaged. Peoples level of trust in others is high; six in every ten is trusting, only one in ten distrustful. (This is considered an important measure of Social Capital). One in three respondents were dissatisfied with democracy.
Forms of community participation:
38% of people were involved in civic participation at least once in the last 12 months. This is equivalent to approximately 16 million people in England and Wales. 67% of people volunteered informally (as individuals) at least once in the last 12 months. This is equivalent to approximately 28 million people in England and Wales. 39% of people volunteered formally (through groups, clubs or organisations) at least once in the last 12 months. This is equivalent to approximately 16 million people in England and Wales. 4% of people participated in employer-supported schemes for volunteering in the last 12 months. This is equivalent to approximately 2 million people in England and Wales. White people were the most involved in civic participation. Black and white people were the most involved in social participation, formal and informal volunteering. People who had the highest levels of education, were from the highest socioeconomic group, had the highest household income and were in employment, were most involved in voluntary and community activities.
Potential for growth in volunteering:
Experience of either informal or formal volunteering, whether past or present but irregular, predisposes people to involvement/greater involvement in the future. The main barriers to active/more active involvement in informal volunteering were time commitments (31%); personal circumstances, primarily parenting, caring and family responsibilities (18%); and working or educational commitments (14%).
39
The main incentives to active/more active involvement in informal volunteering were knowing someone in need of help (59%) and being asked directly to get involved (52%). The main barriers to being involved/more involved in formal volunteering were time commitments (34%); personal circumstances (26%); and working or educational commitments (25%). The main incentives to becoming active/more active in formal volunteering were being asked directly to get involved (44%), getting involved with friends or family (40%) and getting involved from home (28%).
The Locality Effect 2002 research44 investigated the locality effect on local government and citizen participation the locality effect is what remains after socio-demographic factors have been taken into account. The definition of public participation used was taking part in the processes of formulation passage and implementation of public policies, action taken by citizens in seeking to influence decisions ultimately taken by public officials and elected representatives at the local level. This included a range of activity from voting, working on campaigns to contacting officials, protesting and formal or informal involvement in local issues. Some of the key findings are that:
Better educated and more prosperous people were more likely to have the resources and skills to participate, than those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This could be mobilised for particular issues. There were, however, exceptions to this, and research revealed highly deprived areas with high levels of participation, and affluent areas with lower participation. Demographics were also important, for example a high proportion of retired people in one area produced higher levels of participation, while in another area, with a predominance of young commuters, resources, and wealth were offset by shortage of time. Differences in style, as well as levels of participation were noted. Average turnout at local elections could not be explained by nationally influenced politics. Levels of contact with councillors and officers did not correlate with election turnout. Contact varied greatly between areas. People in all areas were inclined to sign petitions as a means of participation. Social Capital the cohesiveness, social networks of a community, which allow an individual political participation (for example neighbourliness and civic engagement): the research found this less clear cut as an explanation for levels of political participation. Social capital is not a raw material for democracy, which can be used in a straightforward way. Attitudes to other people, levels of trust in other people and level of attachment to neighbourhood did not offer convincing explanations of political participation. The strongest factor in political participation was levels of involvement in associations.
Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L. and Stoker, G. 2002 The Locality Effect: Local Government and Citizen Participation
44 40
Institutional filters were found to be important in the relationship between socio-economic status, social capital and political participation, in terms of explaining local variations although the strength and significance of these institutional features varies, as does the way they interact. The three key ones were: party politics and political leadership; public management; and, civic infrastructure. The structures and informal conventions of party politics and political leadership had a profound effect on the way which citizens viewed participation. Where political arrangements were relatively open, there was more participation. Where more closed, participation was either as confrontation or resigned but critical apathy. Where there was strong party competition, or a change of leadership, there were more attempts to reach out to communities and establish and understanding of local needs. Public management approaches varied greatly, and seem to have an impact on levels of participation. Formal and informal structures were important. The areas covered were: i) ii) the type and mix of techniques; which issues were open to participation (the balance of service-based and, other issues, such as those based on neighbourhoods and communities of interest);
iii) the point in the policy cycle where participation occurred (e.g. choosing from a range of options or agenda setting); iv) sustained managerial innovation. Civic infrastructure the formal and informal mechanisms for linking associations and their activities and the channels of communication with local policy makers was also found to be significant. This included: i) ii) the degree of co-ordination, and levels of conflict or consensus with voluntary and community sectors; conduits for public participation, such as faith networks, Chamber of Commerce, REC, CVS facilitating access to local politicians and managers, developing skills of citizens and groups to use access, pooling or arbitrating between diverse voices of citizens monitoring responses of decision makers;
iii) In rural areas, parish and town councils were an important part of civic infrastructure, in urban areas new partnership bodies had a role. The character of the civic infrastructure was shaped by the local history of relations of community based organisations and decision makers, and history of the area (such as the role of trade unions). This ranged from voluntary and community sectors being incorporated into council decision making structures to being kept at arms length or playing groups off against each other. ESRC research45 in 2002 also looked at the issue of what motivates people to participate. It revealed some similar findings, but placed more emphasis on perceived outcomes and benefits of participation as a motivator. In summary, this research found that:
45
Birchall, R.J. and Simmons, R.A 2002 A theoretical model of what motivates public service users to participate ESRC Democracy and Participation 41
In terms of resources, income is unimportant. Having time to participate has an influence on whether people get started, but has little effect once people are involved. Having skills is important both in terms of having ability and in supporting higher levels of participation. People who participate tend to see opportunities to participate as positive, but more work is needed to find out what makes a good opportunity. Around 80% of participants were actively recruited by people they knew; social networks play a key role. Individual incentives direct costs of participation were not important, half said there were none. Only 11% of those participating and 25% of those not participating were put off by costs. Participation continues to be valuable to people over time. Few said that external benefits were important to them (e.g. help with a political career or being looked up to) but many considered internal benefits important (e.g. greater self confidence or the chance to have ones say). However, these are not the motivation for participation, and 80% would still participate without any of these benefits. Collectivistic incentives appear to be important 79% wanted to get benefits for the group as a whole, as opposed to 2% who wanted individual benefits, and 19% who wanted both. However, it may be that people are simply more comfortable with viewing their own participation in this way. Either way, collectivistic incentives are important in motivating service users to participate. The majority of service users have a positive experience of participation, reinforcing their key motivations to participate, particularly shared goals and a sense of community. There is evidence that good experience leads to growing commitment, and the majority say it would be difficult to stop participating. Providers commonly report that service users style is too oppositional and admit that this can sometimes lower their own commitment. There is a difference in power between providers and users, and often a failure to manage the expectations of users. This is important in the dynamics of participation.
Earlier research46 also discusses in detail citizens perspectives on participating in local government. The dominant views within the focus groups was that people would participate if the issue mattered to them or if they felt their interests were threatened or if there was something they could gain. This was confirmed in research conducted in 199947 indicating that people show more interest in issues that directly affect their lives...
Peoples support for increased spending on services was affected by a number of factors including whether they or someone in their household directly benefited from that service.
DETR, 1998 Enhancing public participation in local government DETR, 2000 Revisiting public perceptions of local government: a decade of change
46 47 42
55% said they would definitely be interested in being involved in the decisions their council makes, with 16% saying it would depend on the issue. 45% would be interested in taking part in important decisions about their councils budget.
Electoral Commission48 survey work on political engagement, at national as well as local level, offers the following findings:
Around one in seven (14%) are politically active. Generally people are divided about the efficacy of getting involved in politics and the national level: 36% agree that getting involved can change the way the UK is run, but 40% disagree. There is a strong local dimension more people have presented their views to a councillor than an MP and more pick their local council rather than parliament as one of the institutions having the most impact on their lives. Politics as the public understands this term is verging on becoming a minority interest, with only half of the public (50%) say they are interested in politics, the lowest since the question was first asked by MORI since 1973. However the figure was 58% in May 2003, so may be the product of a short-term or seasonal effect (this is the first time such fluctuations within a year have been measured by survey data). At the same time three quarters say that they want to have a say in how the country is run. The report concludes that people remain interested in the issues that affect them, their families and the wider world, and that they want a say in the way decisions are made and to know their voices have been heard. It suggests that harnessing that positive aspiration is something which should and must be done. MORI research for the BMA over several years uses the question Now I will read out a list of different types of people. For each, would you tell me whether you trust them to tell the truth or not? This trend shows that trust in politicians is higher than at any time since before 1998, but lower than for several measures recorded since then. The report looks at the picture of participation beyond the ballot box and notes Professor Whiteley and his team at the University of Essex49 have used the ESRC funded Citizen Audit to assert that there is a good deal of evidence of civic vitality. They also suggest it is not so much a case of [political] participation having declined, and more that it has evolved and taken on new forms. While conventional political activities such as voting or contacting a politician have declined since 1984, there has been a significant growth in consumption politics such as boycotting products and contacting the media. This is particularly the case for the younger generation.
48 49
Electoral Commission 2004 An audit of political engagement C.Pattie, P.Seyd and P,Whiteley (2003) Civic Attitudes and Engagement in Parliamentary Affairs vol.56 no.4, Oxford University Press and P. Whitely (2003) The State of Participation ibid. 43
An international study50 found people in post-industrial societies increasingly moving from electoral repertoires toward mixed-action repertoires combining electoral activities and protest politic. Civic Education:
A forthcoming literature review51 as part of the ODPM project Civic Education: good practice guidance for local government provides useful information of possible future directions. Civic education is defined as educational, learning or promotional activities carried out in a local context by or on behalf of local councils, to enable people to become more involved in the democratic process. Ongoing work involves a survey and case studies of local government current practice, with the aim of bringing everything together to produce guidance. The review plots the history and theoretical context of citizenship from Ancient Greece onwards, as well as reviewing current evidence from the UK and wider. The review can be read alongside this digest, to give a specific account of research on citizenship, education, and how levels of citizen engagement and local government may be related. One of the most important recent initiative is, of course, the Government measure to include Citizenship Education in the school curriculum. Early findings52 on this are that students had felt that they had little opportunity to participate in the wider community through school, and that opportunities tended to be limited to voluntary work. The research suggested that councils could do more to foster good schoolcommunity relations and support Citizenship education, although it was noted that many councils had established youth parliaments. The review also looks at evidence on adult and community citizenship education and empowerment projects. After reviewing evidence, the report comes to some broad conclusions on what is known so far and states: It is clear from our review that the successfulness, of civic education initiatives can be interpreted in different ways, depending on the dominant objectives, the underlying theories defining the problem to be solved, and whether one is speaking to government, the voluntary sector, or particular sectors of the public. Nevertheless, it is possible to summarise the main ways in which success has been interpreted:
In terms of the knowledge which it imparts, about the opportunities for democratic participation and the best ways of using them. In terms of the virtues it inculcates in participants, such as promoting appreciation, courtesy, respect, responsibility and self-confidence.
50 51 52
Pippa Norris (2002) Democratic Phoenix Cambridge University Press ODPM (forthcoming) Civic Education and Local Government: Literature Review David Kerr 2004 Changing the Political Culture: Reviewing the Progress of the Citizenship Education Initiative in England, paper presented to the American Research Association, San Diego, April.
44
In terms of the behavioural changes it triggers, in terms of the willingness and ability of people to participate in a wide range of decision-making settings including but certainly not restricted to turning out to vote in local elections.
It has been suggested53 that different types of government-led support can contribute to the success of civic education activities at the local level. These might include:
Access to meeting space, ICT and presentational materials; Advice on funding and legal issues; Awareness-raising training on citizenship, cultural awareness, campaigning and evaluation; Assistance through dedicated staff supporting above.
The Home Office also continues to provide guidance in this area. Furthermore...
A National Centre for Social Research survey54 in 2000 found that 59% of the public would be interested to some extent in taking part in important decisions about their councils budget. The British Social Attitudes survey in the late 1990s showed that two thirds (64%) agreed that the council tax should be set locally but 69% felt that local councils should call a referendum if they propose a tax increase above the rate of inflation. Brook et al (1996)55 draw on a module of questions concerning attitudes towards local taxation and spending included in the 1996 British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey. They found a far greater degree of consonance between perceptions of self-interest and notions of the general good in attitudes towards spending on services such as the police and street cleaning, which benefit the area generally, than on services that are more targeted at specific individuals, such as local schools.
And finally in terms of why people dont participate, 199956 research indicated that the chief reasons for their not participating were:

53 54 55
having a negative view of the council lack of awareness about opportunities to participate lack of a council response to results of participation
Civil Renewal Unit 2003 Building Civil Renewal: Government support for community capacity building and proposals for change DETR, 2000 It is our money anyway. Lessons learnt from giving the public a voice in local authority spending decisions Brook, L Emmerson, C and Hall, J (1996) Attitudes to local tax and spending, London, Institute for Fiscal Studies. (Referred to in Links between the finance and non-finance elements of local government a literature review, ODPM, November 2002) DETR, 2000 Revisiting public perceptions of local government: a decade of change 45
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lack of interest or confidence in participation.
Voting Note on voting figures actual turnout figures cannot be related to age, gender, Ethnic Minority groupings or people with disability due to the anonymity of voting. The findings outlined in this digest are therefore taken from surveys of people conducted shortly after elections. There is, however, a tendency for the public to over-report voting and the intention to vote. Very broadly, reported voting tends to be 10% higher than actual turnout in General elections and 20% higher in local elections. Looking specifically at the issue of participation in elections, the Electoral Commission has investigated this issue in depth as part of its evaluation of the electoral pilot schemes57. The overwhelming factor seems to be whether or not people believe there will be a significant outcome that their vote will make a difference. More specifically, the research has found that:
There is extensive research to suggest that attitudes to electoral outcomes and the political processes are generally more important factors when electors come to decide whether or not to participate, rather than the process of voting58. This research also found that there is a substantial segment of the population who make a decision not to vote for reasons of political disconnection... for this group the mechanics of voting is not a critical factor. It revealed there was broad satisfaction with the actual process of voting and the system of registering to vote, although levels of support were significantly lower for some sections of the population who say they rarely or never vote in local elections. Levels of interest in local elections are different to that at other elections. NOPs research59 for the Commission, 2002, found that the public see them as less interesting than general elections, and less likely to effect real change. Another survey60 for the Commission found a critical disconnection between peoples interest in local issues and their low propensity to vote in local elections 76% of those who rarely or never vote in local council elections say that they are very or fairly interested in social issues such as crime, housing, hospitals and education where they live. This finding also emerges from academic analyses. An additional factor is that nearly half of non-voters (46%) said that they did not vote because there were no local candidates who seemed worth voting for61.
57 58 59 60 61 46
The Electoral Commission, 2003, The shape of elections to come: A strategic evaluation of the 2003 electoral pilot schemes The Electoral Commission, 2003 Public opinion and the 2003 electoral pilot schemes The Electoral Commission. 2002 Public Opinion and the 2002 local elections Taylor Nelson Sofres interviewed 1705 GB adults ages 18+ by telephone 14-16 March 2003 Populus poll for The Times immediately after local elections, Random sample of 1000 adults aged 18+ by telephone 2-3 May 2003
Section 2.4.3 outlines electoral pilots, which aim to increase turnout.
Voting in a broader political context
Research conducted by MORI and University of Plymouth for the Electoral Commission62 points out that elections do not exist in isolation, and attitudes towards them must be seen in the context of overall attitudes to political processes and politicians, at all levels. It highlights issues of trust and disconnection. On trust, they note that fewer than one in five trust politicians to tell them the truth. In terms of disconnection, researchers identified that in the language used to describe politicians, they were regarded as a privileged and distant elite, in their own world, and with next to no understanding of ordinary people. This sense is less to do with what happens at election time, and more connected with the fact that the public do not feel included in the political dialogue or decision-making process. This could be tied into the drivers mentioned elsewhere, as an example of not having a feeling that views will make a difference.
Do attitudes to participation and voting differ amongst different groups in society?
Participation in general The general disinterest in local government is likely to compound or combine with the specific barriers faced by minority and under-represented groups (such as women, people with disabilities, people from ethnic minorities) to make local government particularly unattractive for under-represented groups. The finding63 that participation in the council was perceived as exclusive and for particular types of people may have special relevance in terms of people from under-represented groups. As mentioned previously, disinterest in local government is reflected in low turnout rates for local elections. For women, this may be influenced by their lower levels of trust in politics and politicians although women are more likely to vote than men. Turnout appears to be lowest in inner city and socially deprived areas64. A recent Electoral Commission report65 puts voting in a broader context of participation, and finds:
The headline of this report is that while there is no gender gap in voter turnout, at national, regional or local elections and women are more likely to be involved in cause-oriented activities such as signing a petition or boycotting products for ethical reasons. However, women are less likely to involved in campaign oriented activities, such as contacting a politician and donating money to, working for, or being a member of a political party. Women are also less likely to join voluntary organisations. The authors describe these findings and a statistically significant activism gap.
62 63 64 65
Electoral Commission 2003 Public Opinion and the 2004 Elections: A study of attitudes towards elections for the European Parliament and Londons Mayor and Assembly Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L and Stoker, G. 2001b Trends in public participation: part 2 citizens perspectives Public Administration 79(2), 445-55. Electoral Commission 2002 Public Opinion and the 2002 Local Elections Electoral Commission 2004 Gender and political participation 47
Attitudes that bring people into public affairs have an impact on participation, so, for example, women have less sense of political efficacy and confidence that they can influence the political process than men. The presence of women in representative institutions can make a difference to womens political activism, and, for example, in 2001 in seats where a woman MP was elected, womens turnout was 4% higher than mens. When asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement government benefits people like me in constituencies represented by a female MP women were more likely to concur with this statement (49%) compared to men (38%). This reversed where a man represented the seat, women 38%, men 45%. Although the sample was not of a sufficient size for a full analysis, on data available, while belonging to an ethnic minority in the UK did not predict overall levels of political activism, among men there was no significant difference in participation, ethnic minority women proved far less active than other women. Many believe that non-participation indicated the publics mistrust of parties and politicians, their lack of core institutions such as Parliament and the legal system, or their lack of interpersonal or social trust. Yet the evidence in this analysis provides no support for these common assumptions; as others have found, levels of social trust and institutional confidence were unrelated to participation.66 A reason for this may be that mistrust is a sword that cuts both ways. If people feel that politicians are corrupt, Parliament is unaccountable and that democracy in the UK is ineffective, they may choose to opt out of the political system or, alternatively they may seek to bring about political reforms or vote politicians out of office. The phenomenon of critical citizens or disenchanted democrats has been widely observed in many advanced industrialised societies, representing those people with high ideals for democracy who at the same time express minimal confidence in parties, Parliament and politicians.67
Black and minority ethnic groups According to the Electoral Commission, the lack of ethnic diversity in political organisations and institutions could have a negative impact on ethnic minority communities participation in the political process (ibid). There is some evidence to indicate that Indian people have the highest levels of voter turnout, but this is based on reported intention to vote (ibid;68,69). There is also evidence to suggest that registration rates are lower for ethnic minorities in Britain70. The campaign group Operation Black Vote aims to increase ethnic minority registration and turnout. A DETR commissioned study of turnout suggested that the proportions of pensioners and ethnic minorities in a ward may have a positive impact on voter turnout but the relationship was small and possibly tenuous71.
66 67 68 69 70 71 48 Pippa Norris ed. 1999 Critical Citizens Oxford University Press Susan Pharr and Robert Putnam Eds. 2000 Disaffected democracies: Whats troubling the trilateral countries? Prinecton, NJ:Princeton University Press Anwar, 2001 The participation of ethnic minorities in British politics Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 27(3), 533-49. Saggar, S. (ed) 1998 Race and British Electoral Politics UCL Press: London. Anwar, 2001 The participation of ethnic minorities in British politics Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 27(3), 533-49. Rallings, C., Thrasher, M., Downe, J., Ridge, M., Jansen, M., Preston, I. And Lowry, M. 2000 Turnout at Local Government Elections: influences on levels of voter registration and electoral participation DETR: London.
People with disabilities For people with disabilities, physical access to the polling stations may be a significant barrier to participation in elections. In a study timed for the 2001 General Election, it was found that 69 per cent of polling stations could be considered inaccessible to disabled people72. Although postal ballots are available, this may not be suitable for, or wanted by, everyone including disabled people. It also makes the process of participation a rather isolated and individual one; which for some disabled people may highlight their exclusion from the polling station. At the very public point of local election processes, disabled people may meet a very strong statement in terms of lack of access to the polling station that they have not been considered in their role as participants in an electoral process. Voter engagement The Electoral Commission has conducted research73 looking at voter engagement amongst minority and under-represented groups. The main findings are summarised below: Black and ethnic minority communities Were less likely to say they voted than the rest of the sample (35% vs. 43%).
Are less likely to be registered to vote (70% vs. 87%). The three main reasons non-voters gave for not voting were not being registered (16%), circumstances (14%) forgetfulness (10%). Are less likely to be aware of new voting methods in their area (66% vs. 76%) but did feel informed about them and had seen as much publicity about them as the whole sample. Were on the whole less positive about new voting methods than respondents as a whole: 48% said they made the voting process better compared to 56% overall. Were as likely to claim they had a positive influence on their decision to vote as the whole sample (31% of those who knew what the arrangements were compared with 30% overall). All-postal and telephone voting were rated highest for convenience. There were concerns about all methods in terms of security.
Young people/age (18 24yrs) Much less likely to say they voted than the rest of the sample (18% vs. 43%)
Less likely to be registered to vote (77% vs. 87%). The four main reasons given for not voting were lack of interest in politics (13%), circumstances, forgetfulness, not being registered (11% for each answer).
72 73
Scott, R. and Morris, G. 2002 Polls Apart 3, Scope & DRC: London. The Electoral Commission, 2003 Public opinion and the 2003 electoral pilot scheme. (55-56) 49
Were less aware of new voting methods in their area (56% vs. 76% overall) and less likely to feel well informed or have seen publicity. Despite this, 18 24 year olds were as positive about new voting methods (54% compared to 56% overall) and were more likely to claim they had a positive effect on their decision to vote (42% of those who know what the arrangements were vs. 30% overall). Mobile phones, telephone and all-postal were rated most highly for ease and convenience of use.
Gender Women are slightly more likely to say they voted than the whole of the sample (43% vs. 47%).
Are more likely to be registered to vote (90% vs. 87%). The three main reasons female non-voters gave for not voting were circumstances (15%) forgetfulness (14%) lack of interest in politics (9%) Were more aware of new voting methods in their area than the sample as a whole (78% vs. 76% overall) and felt as informed as others, but had seen less publicity. All-postal and telephone were rated most highly for ease of use and convenience.
People with disabilities More likely to say they voted than the whole of the sample (54% vs. 43%).
Are more likely to say they are registered to vote (90% vs. 87%). This will be partly because people with disabilities tend to have an older age profile. The three main reasons non-voters gave for not voting were circumstances (12%), forgetfulness (10%), there was no point in voting (9%). More aware of new voting methods in their area (80% vs. 76% overall) felt as informed, and had seen as much publicity as the population as a whole. 53% said new methods made voting easier, compared to 56% overall. Not significantly different to the population as a whole in claiming they had a positive influence on their decision to vote (28% of those who knew what the arrangements were, compared to 30% overall). All-postal and telephone were rated most highly for ease of use and convenience. Electronic voting machines were rated as best at being safe from fraud, and allpostal the best for privacy. This will need to be disaggregated for the impact of the age profile of the population.
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2.2.5
PEOPLES VIEWS ON STANDING FOR ELECTION: WHY ARE COUNCILS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE POPULATION?
The composition of local councils
In terms of participation as elected representatives in local government, research consistently shows that councillors in England are largely drawn from a narrow segment of the population. Data from the 2001 Local Government Census reveals that local councillors are overwhelmingly male (70.7%), middle aged to elderly (85.5% are over 45; 26.4% are over 65) and white (97.3%). This profile has changed little from the 1997 Local Government Census and in some ways it has consolidated: local councillors have got older, for example, perhaps indicating stasis, although Raos earlier research had indicated a slight decrease in the average age of councillors74. There are regional variations, with the older, white, male profile being more pronounced in the north of England; councillors in the north are also more likely to be disabled. Councillors are also more likely to be in white-collar professions than the general population; this tendency has increased over time, so that councillors are more middle class than before 75. This is also reflected in the increasing numbers of councillors who are retired but who are aged under retirement age76 as those in white collar, middle class professions may have the option and financial ability to avail of early retirement. Overall, the profile of the typical local councillor in England clearly demonstrates a lack of representativeness in local authorities in terms of members reflecting the make up of the local population. Looking specifically at age, the numbers of councillors aged under twenty-five in England and Wales are tiny, and have declined over time: 0.2 per cent in 1997 and 0.1 per cent in 2001. The very small numbers of young local councillors inevitably emphasises the predominance of older-aged councillors. It also underlines the disengagement of young people from local government see Table 11 below for more detail.
Table 11: Numbers of councillors in England and Wales aged under 25 by grouping77
1997 Men Women White Ethnic minority Disabled Caring responsibilities Full-time councillor All under 25 Total, all ages 25 13 35 3 3 10 6 38 21498 2001 16 7 23 0 2 5 7 23 21268
Source: Local Government Census, 1997 & 2001, Employers Organisation tabulations
74 75 76 77
Rao, N. 2000 Political Representativeness in British Local Government: a survey of non-working councillors Nuffield Foundation website. Rao, N. 2000 Political Representativeness in British Local Government: a survey of non-working councillors Nuffield Foundation website. Employers Organisation 2002 Census of Local authority Councillors: comparisons 1997-2000 The tables produced by the Employers Organisation (EO) give a figure of 17 for men aged under 25 and 7 for women aged under 25; this is probably due to rounding of figures and the advice from the EO was to reduce the figure for men.
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Reasons for the lack of diversity
DETR research78 in 1998 looked at the impact on individuals and their employers on releasing people for council duties. The research found that among the more important reasons for people not seeking to become councillors were:
lack of confidence to play the councillors role; insufficient time; and, having not ever considered seeking election.
This research also suggested deeper reasons:
lack of interest in local politics and public affairs; low standing and salience of local government; cultural change that devalues public service; general public unwillingness to involve themselves in local affairs; lack of strong attachment to the localities in which people live.
Drawing on Bochel and Bochel79, other possible reasons for the lack of diversity in councillors include:
Voter hostility: voters do not vote for candidates who do not reflect the usual profile of councillors, regardless of party affiliation. Selector hostility: selection panels fail to select candidates who differ from the established profile of councillors. This may be because of prejudice and/or because of concerns about voter hostility. Thus women, people from ethnic minorities, people with disabilities can be disadvantaged in the selection process. There is some evidence that ethnic minority candidates tend to be selected for wards where race is perceived to be an issue80,81. Resources and networks: potential candidates from under-represented groups have less access to party and financial resources this can impact on their campaigns and thus deter voters who, in principal, may have been welldisposed to such candidates.
Two of these three possible reasons (selector hostility and resources and networks) relate to party structures and systems. This suggests that within the political parties themselves there needs to be an engagement with barriers deterring a wider range
78 79 80 81 52
DETR, 1998 The Impact of Releasing People for Council Duties Bochel, C. and Bochel, H.M. 2000 The Careers of Councillors: gender, party and politics Ashgate: Aldershot. Solomos, J. and Back, L. 1995 Race, Politics and Social Change Routledge: London, NY. CFMB (Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethinic Britain) 2000 The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain: the Parek Report Profile Books, London
of people from participating in politics and being willing to stand as councillors. The need for political parties to grapple with this issue is partly reflected in findings from ODPM-commissioned research which found that authorities responding to a survey believed that widening participation in the council was beyond their remit82. Other reasons which may deter under-represented groups from standing for election include:
Time: research suggests that the amount of time needed to carry out a councillor role is a deterrent83 (Courtenay et al, 1998). Women typically still undertake the vast majority of household and childcare tasks; while young people, including those from ethnic minority populations (which have a younger age structure when compared to the majority population), may prefer to concentrate on building a career and establishing a home. Similarly, people in full-time work may also find the time demands of being a councillor too high. This may indicate why there is a significant minority of councillors who are retired. Knowledge of prejudice and discrimination: research evidence indicates that councillors who are women and/or from ethnic minority groups experience direct and indirect discrimination84,85. This may include overt racist or sexist comments, exclusion from certain posts and committees and pigeon-holing (e.g. women dealing with womens issues). Ethnic minority councillors may be used to signal political parties commitment to race equality without further responsibilities being envisaged. These experiences may help explain the drop in ethnic minority councillors between 1997 and 2001, and they may also help explain why women councillors are less likely than male peers to stand for re-election. In addition, these practices may impact negatively on these councillors ability to fulfil their representative roles and therefore impinge on their re-election chances. There is also evidence to indicate that in many local authorities, there is a reluctance or even refusal to address issues relevant to Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) communities86. The limited evidence available suggests that the new council structures have not positively impacted on these issues87. Tokenism and party conformity: councillors from under-represented groups can be used as symbols of a partys or councils commitment to equality88. This can be coupled with demands for conformity to party policy on all issues, even when conformity is at the expense of representing the issues relevant to the under-represented group in question89.
82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
OPM 2003 Equality and Diversity in Local Government in England, ODPM: London. Courtenay, G., Finch, S., Rao, N. and Young, K. 1998 The Impact of Releasing People for Council Duties DETR: London. Gill, B. 2000 Losing Out Locally: women and local government Fawcett: London. Solomos, J. and Back, L. 1995 Race, Politics and Social Change Routledge: London, NY. Cooper, D., Carabine, J. and Monro, S. 2003 Lesbian and Gay Equalities Work in Local Government: 1990-2001 Keele University: Keele. Stoker et al 2003 Policy Paper 1: Diversity under New Council Constitutions Solomos, J. and Back, L. 1995 Race, Politics and Social Change Routledge: London, NY. Canavon, M. ad Smith, P. 2001 Representing the People: democracy and diversity LGA: London. 53
Cost: councillors are not paid and there is some evidence that this is particularly a deterrent for under-represented groups. For people on means tested benefits, councillors expenses may be counted and thus affect their benefit income (ibid). What is being done to address this lack of diversity?
1998 research90 discusses what can be done to encourage people to stand for election as councillors. It acknowledges that reversing the long-term decline in the standing of local government and enhancing public participation is a long-term project, but suggests that it is immediately important to change the way local authorities operate to reduce the time demands on councillors. These demands can be considerable, and a reduction might encourage a wider range of people to consider serving on their local council. The Local Government Act 2000 provided options for new council constitutions. The overarching aim of these changes was to make councils more responsive and accountable to their local communities. It was also anticipated that by streamlining council decision-making structures and making them less onerous, it might encourage more people to consider standing for election as councillors and so improve the diversity of council representation. Some initial research has looked at the impact of new council constitutions on diversity for more detail see Section 2.5. And for detail on how local authorities are using the new council constitutions to increase user involvement in service delivery please see Chapter 3: User Involvement in Service delivery.
2.3 Partnership working at the local level collaborating to enhance participation

KEY FINDINGS Authorities have long been seeking to understand the needs and interests of their communities in order to inform local partnership activities (for example, around social exclusion issues). This community involvement either takes the form of voluntary sector or umbrella involvement on behalf of communities, or more active community involvement. The latter is often considered more meaningful. 97% of local authorities claimed to be working in collaboration with other organisations on schemes to enhance public participation. It seems that the most likely partnership is with the police (89% of local authorities), but also: health authorities (79%); voluntary/community organisations (75%) and other local authorities (73%). Authorities can collaborate with other organisations at the local level to enhance community engagement in a number of ways:

90 54
sharing resources and good practice on communication jointly providing information, for example to local residents undertaking consultation joint planning on communication and strategy
DETR, 1998 The Impact of Releasing People for Council Duties
2.3.1
PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL Past research91 has looked at current working methods and problems facing national, regional and local agencies in local strategic planning and joint action to tackle social exclusion. This research could be said to give an early picture of local partnership working, the barriers encountered and some good practice principles. Partnership working has since become more developed more recent examples and issues are explored in Chapter 3 which looks at Local Strategic Partnerships that said this early research looking at joint working does reveal some interesting issues that still have pertinence today. The report emphasises that community involvement is an essential ingredient of anti-poverty/exclusion initiatives, and that such involvement has become much more sophisticated; agencies and authorities are becoming more aware of the time-scales involved, of the need for genuine involvement, of the importance of feedback. Communities are more actively involved in structures for community revitalisation; capacity building initiatives are widespread; long term community trusts and the like are beginning to grow. The evidence is, however, that community empowerment is still fragile and that real control over resources has shifted only marginally if at all. The research emphasises the fact that there is a need to distinguish between voluntary sector or umbrella involvement on behalf of communities and active community involvement, and the real test for the effectiveness and sustainability of any local partnership initiative is the degree of autonomy achieved by communitybased partnerships. Such autonomy may depend on the extent to which there is investment in social capital. The report emphasises the importance of considering:
the ways in which the varied interests become involved; the extent to which they are committed to involvement and engagement; and, the forms of consultation used to draw in the views and preferences of less visible or vocal interests.
The position of users and residents is particularly important. There is an extensive literature on resident empowerment in estates regeneration which suggests that historically the level of active involvement and empowerment of communities has been low and that it was not until the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and New Deal for Communities that communities have begun to have a real say. The report goes on to say that emphasis on capacity building in the community and voluntary sectors needs to be matched, however, by capacity building in the statutory sector to make the larger organisations willing and capable to engage communities. Whilst the much of the report detailed local authority efforts to engage and work with organisations and groups at the local level, it suggested less activity (at the time) in terms of directly involving local people. That said, it did reveal a few examples of how local partnerships sought community views:
91
DETR, 2000 Policy Action Team 17: Joining up Locally. The Evidence Base 55
EXAMPLE: Partnership structures for tackling social exclusion: Telford & Wrekins three tier partnership approach Telford and Wrekin Partnership is a three tier partnership comprising a strategic, service delivery and local community level. The strategic level is made up of an inter-agency partnership group, a council member strategy group and a senior officer steering group, all of which maintain a priority setting role. At the operational level, a series of project teams drawn from across the authority and partners agencies lead the development of specific initiatives. Team leaders form a project leaders group to exchange information and develop best practice. The community level provides a forum for local people, and representative organisations, to feed directly into both strategic and operational levels for tackling social exclusion.
In addition to specific policy initiatives, joined-up working for social exclusion can also be fostered by the use of corporate events across the authority or in partnership with other stakeholders. This may include, for example, awareness training for officers and members, development of targeted services across the authority such as benefit take-up campaigns or corporate debt policies, or joint consultation events. For example...
EXAMPLE: The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham arranged a high profile conference (Bridging the Divide) in November 1998, bringing together a range of local stakeholders, to report upon the councils approach to tackling poverty and social exclusion as well as presenting research findings and current activities.
EXAMPLE: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has developed a Reachout Project to ensure the inclusion of vulnerable members of the community in the design of their social exclusion policies and programmes. This multiagency project aims to identify those who do not feel able to participate in traditional consultation exercises.
EXAMPLE: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Councils establishment of Local Communities Groups throughout the region demonstrates joined-up thinking at the grassroots level. The groups facilitate the active involvement of residents to ensure that policies reflect local priorities and needs. A key ingredient to the public participation structure has been the commitment of other partners such as the Health Authority, TEC, local college, probation service, voluntary sector and police. Working together with these agencies and residents has facilitated a shopping list of improvements to be drawn up. Chapter 3 of this Digest looks at more recent examples of how partnership working at the local level is operating to promote local democracy and community engagement it includes consideration of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs).
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2.3.2
COLLABORATING TO ENHANCE PARTICIPATION Here we deal specifically with local authorities efforts to collaborate with other organisations at the local level in running participation and consultation exercises. In research published in 200192, 97% of local authorities claimed to be working in collaboration with other organisations on schemes to enhance public participation this figure is up from 81% in 1997. It seems that the most likely partnership (in 89% of local authorities) is with the police. Other organisations/groups that authorities seem inclined to collaborate with are health authorities (79%), voluntary/community organisations (75%) and other local authorities (73%). Of the organisations provided in the questionnaire, authorities seem least likely to collaborate with churches (25%) and public utilities (17%) (See Table 12 below).
Table 12: Collaboration on schemes to enhance public participation
Number Police Health authorities Voluntary/community organisations Local authorities Housing associations Local businesses Local schools or colleges Parish/town councils Training and enterprise councils (TECs) Churches Public utilities 193 171 161 157 127 112 112 101 77 53 37 Percentage 89% 79% 75% 73% 59% 52% 52% 47% 36% 25% 17%
Source: Public Participation in local government: a survey of local authorities, ODPM, 2003
Respondents to this survey also reported a range of other organisations that they collaborate with to enhance public participation that were not provided for in the questions asked in the survey. These included:
LSP (8 authorities) Fire and rescue service (6 authorities) Other faith groups (4 authorities) Transport authority (3 authorities) Community strategy group (2 authorities)
There are a number of specific examples93 where councils are collaborating with partners to achieve more effective communication with communities. Typical activities include:
sharing resources and good practice on communication
92 93
Public participation in local government a survey of local authorities, ODPM, 2002 www.idea.knowledge.gov.uk 57
jointly providing information, for example to local residents undertaking consultation joint planning on communication and strategy
EXAMPLE: Somerset County Council runs a Joint Consultation Strategy Group with all five district councils in Somerset, the Police and Health Authority. It meets to plan and coordinate consultation and communications events across the county. It has run several major projects and has developed very positive working relationships between members of the Group. For example:
Somerset Influence a citizens panel of 8,000 people, funded and used by all partners. Somerset County Council provides consultation services for district councils and the Police Authority, including conducting joint surveys on sustainability issues and crime and disorder. Joint consultation on political structures. This was launched with a joint bonfire. Partners co-funded a video (with a script approved by DETR) on political structures, sold it to 60 other councils to cover the costs, conducted over 70 public meetings and achieved over 2,600 responses. The Group launched local democracy week with a CD and electronic voting. The districts paid for the CDs to be produced, the county did the promotion and distribution and organised electronic voting. The Group carries out exercises for one other, for example acting as external facilitators on Best Value reviews across different services.
EXAMPLE: London Borough of Camdens Community Plan was launched in May 2001 and was two years in the making. The Camden Plan, which preceded it, was focused on what the council could achieve on its own. The Community Plan involves partnership and partners have signed up to 90+ targets. The Local Strategic Partnership went live in January 2002. Camden believes it has an important role in leading and facilitating the community planning process on behalf of, and with, the partnership it has a democratic mandate to do so. Most partners welcome this. Camden also do a lot of dedicated work with opinion formers MPs, journalists, judges, ministers and others living in the borough through its external relations programme. The council sends them an occasional publication Perspective focused on key issues such as homelessness and education, written by journalists and researchers. Around 3,000 copies have been sent out so far.
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EXAMPLE: Devon County Council launched Devon talk in 2002 a new quarterly 24 page colour magazine for Devon residents (325,000) by key public agencies across the county. Devon talk is one in a series of initiatives designed to help bring public services closer to the people they serve. Thought to be the first of its kind, the innovative publication is being funded and produced by a partnership of public authorities Devon County Council, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, Devon & Cornwall Police Authority, Devon Fire & Rescue Service and Devon Fire Authority.
2.4 Models of local participation and involvement in decision-making what do we know so far?
KEY FINDINGS Local government continues to push forward the agenda on public participation and there has been a considerable uptake of participation initiatives by local authorities between 1997 and 2004. Authorities clearly recognise the benefits of engaging the public and are increasingly trying to consult people in local decisions and developing service delivery. However, it seems that authorities more often involve people in decisions in more passive ways. There are a variety of methods and initiatives local authorities might use to engage the local people from surveys and referenda to focus groups and forums depending on the subject matter for consultation, the target audience(s) and depth and/or representativeness of information an authority requires. Evidence shows that authorities are looking to more innovative and deliberative ways to involve people research and good practice guidance offers many examples of what individual authorities are doing in this area. Local authorities are also considering how best to promote engagement of traditionally hard-to-reach groups, such as young people, black and minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities, etc. Authorities tend to favour smaller-scale, deliberative approaches, such as focus groups or forums, for these citizens. There is, however, the question of whether authorities currently have the capacity to respond effectively to these additional requirements.
2.4.1
THE BIG PICTURE Research conducted in 199994 showed that people were most interested in postal questionnaires (47%) and face-to-face interviews in the home (30%) as the main means whereby their views could be sought.
94
DETR, 2000 Revisiting public perceptions of local government: a decade of change 59
A 2002 survey95 (updating research done in 199896) looked at trends in the use of different participation approaches by local authorities. Comparing survey figures between the two years revealed that traditional approaches to public participation and those with a consumerist nature are well-established across local government. In fact, service satisfaction surveys and complaints/suggestions schemes are almost universally used by local authorities. However, there has been increasing interest in experimenting with more innovative and deliberative approaches. In 1997, only 55 authorities (18%) used citizens panels, compared with 153 authorities (71%) in 2001. Similarly, the percentage of authorities using focus groups has increased from 47% to 81%. This suggests that many authorities are finding the more deliberative approaches effective in engaging the public. A long-term evaluation of Best Value being undertaken by Cardiff Business School for ODPM has looked at the extent to which authorities consult the public and other stakeholders as part of their Best Value Reviews. As can be seen in the table below, 91% of authorities consult service users or their representatives in service reviews and just over half (51%) consult the general public.
Table 13: Approaches to 2000/2001 Best Value Reviews
Type of Authority (%) County Councils (1) Consult: The public as a whole Service users or their representatives Other local agencies Local businesses Front line staff Trade unions 33 84 73 30 87 56 51 90 73 34 89 68 48 92 64 34 89 62 51 91 70 39 88 76 57 92 68 42 87 50 52 91 69 38 88 60 Unitary London Authorities Boroughs (2) (3) Metropolitan District districts Councils (4) (5) All LAs (%)
Source: Census of Local Authorities, 2001. Respondents: Service officers (N = 1821). Scale: 7 point Likert scale: 1 disagree, 7 agree.
Chapter 3: User involvement in service delivery also provides detailed examples about how local authorities have involved people in service improvement. 2.4.2 ENHANCING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION WHAT ARE INDIVIDUAL AUTHORITIES DOING? The public appear to think that local government is not very effective at providing information over twice as many people feel that the public sector is worse, rather than better than the private sector at providing information (30% compared to 14%)97. The choice of approach and the way the information is communicated should reflect the subject on which an authority is consulting. For example, due to the complex nature of local government finance, it is particularly important to give careful thought to how best communicate with the public on this issue.
95 96 97 60 ODPM, 2002 Public participation in local government a survey of local authorities DETR, 1998 Enhancing public participation in local government MORI, 1998 Peoples Panel on behalf of the Cabinet Office
EXAMPLES: CROYDON AND KIRKLEES98 These councils have tried to make finance more accessible and interesting to the public by presenting the information in different ways. Kirklees used a colourful diagram presenting the local government finance system as a plumbing system to show all the range of funding sources, flows and expenditures. Croydon presented the information in the form of a shopping list to show some of the typical items they needed to spend money on.
Much of the research on participation and engagement provides specific examples of local authority participation initiatives, ranging from surveys and referendums to focus groups and citizens juries.
Quantitative approaches: SURVEYS AND REFERENDUMS
EXAMPLE: SURVEYS99 A London Borough carried out a postal survey among its residents by distributing a questionnaire to all households through the monthly council magazine. A two page article in the magazine accompanied the survey and included information about sources of income and main areas of expenditure. The questionnaire provided a list of different council services was given and residents were asked which of the following options they would prefer:
an increased level of service; the level of service to remain the same; a decreased level of service (to fund increases in other services or a cut in Council Tax).
The second section listed a number of new schemes, which might be introduced by the council in order to tackle issues already raised by the public. The cost to a typical Council Tax bill was given for each scheme. Residents were asked to indicate their three top schemes in order of preference. Finally, residents were questioned about Council Tax levels. Three options were presented:
current service levels maintained with no change in Council Tax; increased service levels with limited increase in Council Tax; decreased service levels and decrease in Council Tax.
Where residents chose options 2 or 3, they were asked to indicate by how much they would like to see Council Tax increased or decreased
98 99
ODPM, 2002 Council tax consultation guidelines for local authorities DETR, 2000 It is our money anyway... Lessons learnt from giving the public a voice in local authority spending decisions 61
1350 questionnaires were returned, giving a 1.4% response rate. Results helped the council prioritise new schemes. 42% voted for increased service level and an increase in Council Tax; 36% for no change in Council Tax and maintenance of current service levels, 14% for a decrease in service levels and Council Tax. Whilst this approach would potentially allow consultation of a broad crosssection of the population, the low response rate raises concerns about the representativeness of the results. There were also concerns from both the authority and the public that the respondents did not have sufficient background understanding to answer questions about such complex issues.
EXAMPLE: REFERENDUMS100 (Milton Keynes, Croydon and Bristol have all held referenda on budget issues). According to a Milton Keynes official: The council has realised its ambition of engaging the whole community in a major decision...The high turnout shows that people do have an interest in the activities of their local council and that there is much scope for increasing democratic participation at the local level. The provision of clear, succinct information about issues of direct relevance to local citizens coupled with easier ways in which to vote appear to be part of the solution. Interviewees also saw other benefits of using this approach:
Referendums are also a transparent way of allowing the public to state its preference. As a result of the referendum, residents are overall more informed about what the council does, how it spends its budget, etc. They perceive a better relationship between the council and its citizens.
Qualitative and deliberative approaches: FOCUS GROUPS AND INTERVIEWS
When the nature of the subject is complex it is often useful to use qualitative, deliberative methods of consultation, for example focus groups, workshops, etc which allows the authority to explain issues using visual aids, and gives participants the opportunity to answer questions.
100 ODPM 2002 Council tax consultation guidelines for local authorities 62
EXAMPLE: CONSULTATIVE GROUPS101 A unitary authority set up three consultative groups, one among the business community and two among a cross section of residents. Each group was made up of about 15 people. The groups were a hybrid between an extended focus group and a citizens jury. In all they met three times over a period of six weeks. At the first meeting of each group, participants were given background information about council responsibilities and restraints. At the second meeting, they were asked to consider the councils discretionary spending and to reach a consensus about priorities for allocating a 280 million budget. Each council department provided information about its services and the associated costs. Group participants requested further information and at the third meeting presented their views. This approach was seen as successful by both the authority and the participants. The authority saw it as an effective mechanism explaining complex information and for raising public awareness and fostering appreciation of the constraints under which councils have to operate. The one reservation was about representativeness.
EXAMPLE: DACORUM IT-SUPPORTED MODELLING102 Dacorum used a software package: Simultaneous Multi-Attribute Level TradeOff (SIMALTO). Basically views of interviewees would be fed into SIMALTO which would create an ideal budget option. The model could then be manipulated to look at the satisfaction ratings of other options or set a goal of 80% satisfaction to see what budget would be appropriate.
Combining depth with breadth: A MIXED APPROACH
Whilst more deliberative and interactive approaches are more likely to allow participants to provide a more informed and considered response. The downside is that they necessarily involve smaller groups of people and so tend not to provide a representative picture of public opinion. Therefore, authorities may choose a mixed approach as the best way forward.
101 DETR March 2000 It is our money anyway... Lessons learnt from giving the public a voice in local authority spending decisions 102 ODPM 2002 Council tax consultation guidelines for local authorities 63
EXAMPLE: SUTTONS BUDGET CONSULTATION103 Sutton has carried out a formal budget consultation based on a distributed annual document produced for the last 15 years. The document is available in libraries but is sent to interest groups directly. The document is made available to groups at the beginning of January once the level of central government support is known. There are three weeks in which responses can be sent in. As well as asking for responses in writing to the consultation document, meetings are set up with key groups such as head-teachers/governors, residents groups, where there are particular issues of interest to them. On average, Sutton get about 1,000 responses. Many responses come in the form of standard letters from organised sources. The key benefits of this approach, identified by the local authority, are:
Feedback on specific proposals from people who, as they are interested parties rather than general public know what they are talking about. Dialogue over the years has broken down cynicism and made interested parties feel they are contributing to debate. The strength of the approach is in reaching partners and formal groups rather than the general public.
EXAMPLE: Leeds City Council104 developed a tenants involvement strategy, which involves:
38 local forums (based on distribution of council housing); 4 regional forums for parts of the city; and a Tenants Involvement Committee (8 members) which meets every week at the Civic Hall, and has regular meetings with chair of the housing committee.
Local forum meetings operate on an open house basis attendance varies but is typically around 20. Tenants, elected members and officers are all represented. To avoid potential problems of small unrepresentative cliques dominating Tenants Associations (TAs), Leeds has tried to regulate the workings of such TAs. TA can become accredited (e.g. eligible for grant) only if it can show that it has a paid-up membership of 33% (rising to 51% in year 3) of estates population (or have been elected in which a minimum of around 500 participated). Over a third of Citys tenants are now members of accredited Tenants Associations.
103 ODPM, 2002 Council tax consultation guidelines for local authorities 104 DETR, 1998 Guidance on enhancing public participation in local government 64
EXAMPLE: NORTHAMPTONSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL105 During 2000/01 and 2001/02, Northamptonshire employed a combination of techniques in their budget consultation:
citizens panel meetings; consultative documents to district and parish/town councils, public agencies, voluntary and business sectors and other stakeholders; area committees; internet.
They chose this mixed approach to ensure as wide a coverage as possible and to ensure they reached beyond the usual suspects. This combination of quantitative and qualitative methods has proved useful in allowing a representative response, whilst also using more deliberative approaches to provide respondents with a deeper understanding of the issues, so they can give more considered, meaningful responses.
2.4.3
ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO VOTE WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Electoral Pilots
Local election turnout between 1990 and 1999 was 36% and since 2000 has been only slightly above 30%. During elections in 2002, 2003 and 2004 various pilots have taken place. These have two functions:
To increase turnout To test the feasibility of electronic forms to widen participation.
Although methods of voting are perhaps not the greatest factor in turnout, there has been extensive work around the form of elections, with the aim of increasing voter turnout, in recent years. The Electoral Commission believes in a future in which voters have a choice of how to cast their ballot, and where voters have confidence that all voting channels open to them are secure. Postal voting is one of the channels piloted106. In the 2004 European elections in the UK areas which piloted all postal ballots, turnout was 42.42% compared to a national average of 38.8%, and just over 5 percentage points over the 37.11% in non-pilot regions. The European and local elections also saw a doubling of take-up of postal voting outside the pilot areas, with postal votes issued to 8.4% in London, 8.7% in the West Midlands and 10.5% in the South West. People in the pilot regions were satisfied with all-postal voting by a margin of two to one 59% against 29%. Whilst there were concerns raised about integrity and security, the Electoral Commission found that there was very little evidence of problems with this, although as prosecutions may be brought for up to two years, they are not able to
105 ODPM, 2002 Council tax consultation guidelines for local authorities 106 Electoral Commission 2004 Delivering Democracy? The future of postal voting 65
finally conclude whether there has been an increase in fraud or malpractice. Earlier pilots showed no difference to polling stations. Prior to this, the 2003 pilots programme for 1 May 2003 local elections was extensive, covering 59 local authorities across England, and 6.4 million people, more than 14% of the English electorate107. 17 Schemes allowed voting electronically through a variety of channels: Internet, telephone, text messaging and interactive digital television, kiosks. Over half the schemes offered all-postal voting. For allpostal, turnout was 49% for all postal, compared to 34.9% for England as a whole. Where this was the second time all-postal was used, turnout was slightly lower than previous all-postal, but still higher than conventional methods. With electronic voting, the schemes had a primary objective of testing security, usability and public attitudes, rather than an expectation of increased turnout. The introduction did not reduce turnout, and the indicative size of increase is in the region 0-5%. The current position of the Electoral Commission is to recommend a choice about how voters cast their ballots, which would include postal voting. 2.4.4 HOW ARE LOCAL AUTHORITIES CONSIDERING THE NEEDS OF DIFFERENT GROUPS IN SOCIETY?
The legislation
Ensuring equality and diversity in service delivery implies a need to be wellinformed about service users needs and perspectives. However, just over one third of users and carers felt that issues relating to race, culture and religion had been noted by social services staff108. Although the majority of councils collect data on local populations, it is not clear that the data collected is then used in service planning and delivery109. New and amended legislation, to put into effect the Employment and Race Directives, should impact on the range of local authority activities, including employment practices, consultation with communities, service delivery and procurement. It is unclear that local government is ready to engage with this broader agenda. Although engaged with equal opportunities since at least the 1980s, if not the 1970s, it appears that within local authorities, this agenda is largely seen to apply to visible ethnic minorities and people with physical disabilities (OPM 2003). This in part reflects recent legislative changes (Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995), and may suggest that local government responds positively to forthcoming legislative changes. Indeed, one of the findings of ODPM commissioned research was that legislation was seen as a driver of the equality and diversity agenda (ibid). Small rural district councils tended to view the equality and diversity agenda as irrelevant; the reasoning for this was mainly based on low numbers of visible ethnic minority populations, although there was also a lack of capacity in these councils (ibid).
107 The Electoral Commission, 2003, The shape of elections to come: A strategic evaluation of the 2003 electoral pilot schemes 108 Audit Commission 2002 Equality and Diversity: learning from audit, inspection and research AC: London 109 OPM 2003 Equality and Diversity in Local Government ODPM 66
Research findings
Since the mid-1990s, there has been an increase in the number and range of participatory activities initiated by local councils110. However, many of these activities are at the passive end of the spectrum and it is unclear to what extent they explicitly target under-represented groups111. In addition, there are concerns about the capacity of under-represented groups to engage in different consultation exercises, particular where communities are small or hidden (ibid). Although there is some good practice, with councils translating materials into minority languages, the focus appears to be on groups such as visible ethnic minorities and people with physical disabilities (ibid). 2002 research112 shows that 44% of authorities have experienced difficulties engaging people from certain social groups particularly those from ethnic minorities and young people. Young people Work on voter engagement among young people in the UK113 found that reasons for not voting (such as disillusion, apathy, alienation, knowledge and inconvenience) affect the youngest sections of the electorate disproportionately. Other key findings include:
Young voters are particularly keen to note the sense of participation (having a say); the rest of the electorate at large is likely to regard voting as a civic duty or responsibility. Young people seem to hold new institutions such as the European Union, Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales in higher regard than their older counterparts. There are clear signs of alienation, but also a desire for much more information and a real interest in and knowledge of a set of wider political themes beyond party politics
A 2001 survey114 by IPPR and the LGA indicated that over three quarters of local authorities that responded to the survey said that they are currently working with young people to involve them in decision making, with a further 10% saying they were planning to. 9% also said they had worked with young people in the past. Other key findings from the survey were:
Youth services has been the area which has seen the greatest amount of young peoples involvement with over 90% of respondents saying they had involved young people in this issue. Around three quarters had also involved young people in education, leisure and community safety.
110 Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L. and Stoker, G. 2001a Trends in public participation: part 1 local government perpectives Public Administration 79(1), 205-222 and Lowndes, V., Pratchett, L and Stoker, G. 2001b Trends in public participation: part 2 citizens perspectives Public Administration 79(2), 445-55. 111 OPM 2003 Equality and Diversity in Local Government ODPM 112 ODPM, 2002 Public participation in local government a survey of local authorities 113 The Electoral Commission, 2002 Voter Engagement and Young People 114 IPPR/LGA, 2001 Involving young people in decision making a survey of local authorities 67
Local authorities were most likely to involve 14-16 year olds (93 per cent of respondents) and 17-18 year olds (86 per cent of respondents) in their decisionmaking. 70% of respondents said they had involved one or more hard to reach groups of young people. The most often involved groups were looked after young people, young people excluded from school, and young people from ethnic minority communities. The main methods of contacting young people were through youth services (93%), youth and community groups (89%) and schools (89%). The most popular method for involving young people in decision-making was through youth forums/councils with over three-quarters of respondents saying they used this method.
Qualitative research115 examining the participation of 94 young people (aged 16-25) across six local authorities in England revealed the following findings:
Only six of the ninety-four young people involved in the research had been involved in a local authority organised participation initiative (a youth empowerment project; a regional youth parliament and; a citywide action group). Young people often did not distinguish between local and national politics: young people either have no conception of politics or understand politics to mean national politics. Those who had been involved in some form of participation were found to be more likely to have some knowledge of the purposes and functions of local government, its structures and to be positive about its role and impact. Those who had not been involved had varying responses including passivity, apathy, total lack of knowledge about local government, perception of local government as merely a service provider, cynicism about politics, local government perceived as exclusive and remote, councillors as a self-serving elite, council membership as closed. Many of the research participants felt that they inevitably lacked influence as young people and, for some, that they additionally lacked a voice because of negative perceptions of their background (coming from a particular area or housing estate, being poor). This was underlined by comments from some young people who had been involved in participatory structures and had found that councillors did not want to listen to them.
It would appear that local authorities are seeking to address this issue by aiming certain participation exercises (e.g. forum-based initiatives, user management of services, focus groups and co-option to committees) at specific citizen groups or
115 ODPM, 2002 Youth participation in local government: a qualitative study 68
neighbourhoods. Authorities seem to be using smaller-scale, deliberative approaches as a way of encouraging citizens from hard-to-reach groups to become more involved in the work of the council. There are several examples of how authorities are adapting approaches to participation so that they would be more accessible or acceptable to different groups of citizens:
EXAMPLE: Several authorities initiated Young Peoples Councils in which participants themselves had identified and worked to overcome issues of social exclusion (in both the election of councillors and the conduct of meetings).116
EXAMPLE: An inner-city authority had developed a rolling programme of focus groups to consult the public on a wide range of issues. Participants were recruited in public places by a market research agency. The approach proved successful in gathering the views of citizens in an area with a traditionally low profile of public participation. People who would not attend public meetings were attracted by a direct invitation and the incentive of a small honorarium payment ... As it had proved especially difficult to recruit Asian women on the street, the research officers set up a partnership with a local community group. Focus groups for Asian women were subsequently held on a regular basis in the homes of local women, with the hosts recruiting neighbours and friends themselves.117 A 2001 survey118 of all local authorities in England and Wales asked about initiatives and activities, which involved young people in local authorities decision-making. Over three-quarters of responding local authorities claimed to be working directly with young people to involve them in their decision-making. More specifically... Recruiting young people Local authorities claimed to use a variety of methods to recruit young people into involvement initiatives. The most heavily used methods youth services, existing youth and community groups, schools are all formal local authority structures.
Young people who were most likely to be recruited seemed to be likely to be already involved in these three. Those young people least likely to be involved were young travellers, gay and lesbian young people and homeless young people. These are all hard-to-reach groups, and may not necessarily be in contact with the particular formal structures used to contact young people.
Models of involvement The survey found that youth forums and councils were particularly popular methods of involvement for local authorities.
Training for young people to help them be involved was provided by 43 per cent of survey respondents.
116 DETR, 1998 Enhancing public participation in local government 117 DETR, 1998 Enhancing public participation in local government 69
Staff training to improve dialogue with young people was provided by a quarter of responding authorities and only twelve per cent provided training for elected members. There was little evaluation undertaken by local authorities of the outcomes of involvement initiatives or of what worked and why.
EXAMPLE: BIRMINGHAMS YOUNG PEOPLES PARLIAMENT119 For their 2002/3 budget, the council held an event with Birminghams Young Peoples Parliament. The Parliament works through schools, with one hundred children elected for a year from across Birmingham. The consultation exercise took place very late in budget process. Information was presented on what council does and it spends its money on. The Parliament was then split into small groups facilitated by a teacher and someone from councils finance department. Each group was given 3 million and asked to allocate it to various priorities. The idea was educate young people about rationing/trade-offs. There was a group feedback session at the end.
EXAMPLE: Sunderland City Councils best value pilot involved sixty young people in a structured programme of real work experience, vocational training and personal development. This set out to test service provision in youth justice, after care, housing, leisure, adult education, youth and personnel services.120
EXAMPLE: Camden is used as an example of a best value pilot which emphasises young people in the consultation process. As part of the 1997 Camden Plan (which forms part of their Best Value Performance Plan), Camdens commitment to access all views included conducting a survey of local people every two years as well as using a citizens panel. The development of School Councils in every Camden School ensured young people were included in this consultation.121 A number of publications, for example guidance by the LGA122, provide advice on strategies for involving young people in local government and illustrates this with case study examples. Assessment of these projects and their success in achieving higher participation is in its infancy, so it is unclear yet whether or not they will achieve their end goal123,124. However, what evidence there is indicates that there is often a lack of clarity about why young people should be encouraged to participate,
118 LGA/IPPR, 2001 Involving young people in decision making: a survey of local authorities 119 ODPM, 2002 Council tax consultation guidelines for local authorities 120 DETR, 2001 Improving Local Public Services: Final Evaluation of the Best Value Pilot Programme 121 Local Government Act 1999: Part I Best Value, DETR Circular 10/99. 122 LGA and NYA, 2001 Hear by Right: setting standards for the active involvement of young people in democracy 123 IPPR/LGA, 2001 Involving young people in decision making: a survey of local authorities 124 Molloy, D, White, C, Hosfield, N 2002 Youth Participation in Local Government ODPM 70
how much participation they should be offered, and what avenues, if any, they should be offered for influencing policy-making and decisions taken by the local authority. Black and minority ethnic groups Research also provides a number of examples125 of how local authorities are seeking to increase engagement of those from black and ethnic minority groups. It seems that authorities most often use groups/forums to engage people from BME groups
EXAMPLE: In one Metropolitan Unitary, Labour councillors told us they have made real efforts to get women and black and minority ethnic candidates to stand for elections. They have organised open evenings at the town hall, and also offer a mentoring scheme for new councillors, which has proved successful. However, they argue that they are faced with significant cultural barriers, such as the restrictions placed on some Asian women. This was a problem they had encountered when trying to encourage Bengali women to stand as school governors. Other important barriers such as time pressures and childcare responsibilities were also thought to exclude some people from standing. (Metropolitan Unitary Council, urban, South East)
EXAMPLE: In order to strengthen engagement with certain communities, one County Council has facilitated the creation of a Network for Minority Ethnic Women. The purpose of the network is to encourage and support work with and for women from minority ethnic communities in the area, to enable them to identify, access and participate in economic and social opportunities. The network, which is supported by the council and meets within council buildings, seeks to share good practice, offer advice and consultancy to employers and service providers, develop partnerships with organisations in order to ensure a more coherent approach by these agencies, and provide training opportunities to improve social and professional development. (County Council, mixed urban and rural, Cumbria and North West)
EXAMPLE: In one Unitary Council, the council provides funding for a Black Workers Forum (BWF), Age Forum and Disabled Workers Forum. The possibility of setting up a gay and lesbian forum is also being considered. Researchers were told that the forums provide staff with the opportunity to discuss and address issues specific to their experience, and to help with the development of council policies and initiatives. Forums receive and manage a training budget, and the BWF has used this to bring in training facilitators and mentors to help build capacity and facilitate career development. The Chief Executive demonstrates her commitment to equality and diversity by meeting with the different forums every three or four months. (Unitary Council, mixed urban and rural, South East)
125 ODPM 2003 Equality and diversity in local government in England 71
Other examples126 of the community groups that were formed in the area of ethnicity consisted of fora, a weighted citizens panel, a Somali umbrella group, a mother and toddlers group for Bangladeshi people and networks. People with disabilities There also some examples in the literature of local authority initiatives for involving people with disabilities in service delivery...
EXAMPLE: In one Metropolitan Council, officers recognised the business case for effective engagement and had employed some innovative and creative techniques to consult with people from diverse communities. The councils engineering and traffic services received a number of comments and complaints from disabled members of the public concerning the boroughs street environment. The council realised that it would be cheaper to consult with the disabled members of the public first, rather than to carry out expensive engineering works and have to make changes later on, when the new street environment turned out not to be suitable. In response to this issue, the council decided to produce The Journey. The Journey is a film that catalogues the problems that can be faced by disabled people in the borough on a day-to-day basis. To prepare the film, various members of the public with different types and levels of disability went out into the borough to highlight specific problems with some street environments. The Journey is used as a reference guide for engineers so that they will not lose sight of the needs of the disabled public when carrying out works and devising projects. The film is also now used at various universities on engineering courses. A copy is available at the British Library. (Metropolitan Unitary Council, urban, South East) See also Chapter 3: examples of user involvement for further detailed examples of community and user engagement at the local level.
126 Ibid. 72
2.5 The effects and impacts of devolved decision-making

KEY FINDINGS To date there has been little assessment of the extent to which participation and consultation exercises actually influences decision-making processes. (That said, case study evidence of the impact of active user involvement in service delivery can be found in Chapter 3.) Existing evidence of impacts tends to be perception-based, with the exception of some ongoing work looking at the impact of new council constitutions on the diversity of local councillors. Research to date has suggested that:
Almost a third of local authorities believe the Best Value Performance Plan has improved accountability, but there is little hard evidence on the publics view on this issue. Local authorities believe that participation leads to improvements in services in the sense that they are more user-focused. To date there is little evidence of the overall impact of the new council constitutions. Age and employment status continue to be key determinants of the lack of diversity in the composition of elected members, owing to the degree of time councillors must give to the role. New council constitutions do not seem to have had an impact on this yet but local authorities are at the beginning of the change process. The people who could make the commitment are older and usually retired or semi-retired. There tends to be great variation in the level of representation of women on councils across different party groups, regions and types of council. This suggests that improvements in diversity relate to wider changes in society and local practice in the way that political parties and councils respond to the challenges they face.
2.5.1
ON LOCAL AUTHORITY DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES... A 2002 survey127 indicated that 26% of authorities feel that public participation initiatives are often influential on decision-making and 44% consider them to fairly influential on final decisions and 26% regard them as only occasionally influential.
2.5.2
ON ACCOUNTABILITY... A long-term evaluation of Best Value being undertaken by Cardiff Business School for ODPM has looked at the impact of the Best Value Performance Plan, including the impact that this has on accountability. It has found that 31% of authorities believe that the Plan works well in enabling the public to hold the authority to account.
127 ODPM, 2002, Public participation in local government a survey of local authorities 73
Table 14: Perceptions of Best Value Performance Plans (BVPPs) by type of authority
Type of Authority (%) County Unitary London Metropolitan District Councils Councils Authorities Boroughs Districts (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) The summary worked well in enabling the public to hold the authority to account Was useful in measuring annual progress Was used to inform actions on a regular basis Targets were agreed by those responsible for meeting them The plan contained new local performance indicators to measure performance Targets were based on political priorities Targets were ambitious Targets will be achieved All LAs (%)
33
38
31
32
31
31
61
57
60
56
56
57
41
38
41
41
41
40
65
64
64
63
70
67
66 52 67 67
64 46 69 62
66 55 73 62
59 45 68 64
62 37 62 66
63 43 66 64
Source: Census of Local Authorities, 2001. Respondents: All respondents (N = 2836).
Furthermore, as set out previously in Table 7, 37% of respondents to the residents survey (conducted as part of the long term evaluation of Best Value128) tend to agree that local people have a say in how council services are provided, and a further 3% strongly agree. That said, a similar proportion (32%) tend to disagree with the statement. For more detail see below.
Extract from Table 7 (above) Residents perceptions of the image of their local authority
Strongly Agree % Local people have a say in how council services are provided Tend to Agree % Neither/ Nor % Tend to Strongly Disagree % Disagree %
37
20
32
Source: Residents Survey, 2001. N=2,658. Data are unweighted
2.5.3
ON SERVICE DELIVERY... In a 2002 survey129 26% of authorities indicated that improvements in services is the most important benefit of consulting the public closely followed by better decision-making on specific points selected by 24% of authorities as the most important benefit.
128 ODPM, 2003 Evaluation of the long-term impact of the Best Value regime Baseline Report 129 DETR 1998 Enhancing public participation in local government 74
2.5.4
ON DIVERSITY... While the Local Government Act 2000 provided no specific proposals it did aim to encourage different sorts of people to enter and exit council service. Thus it was hoped that more councillors would be drawn from these under-represented groups employed people, more women, more people from ethnic minorities, more young people and people with young families in future. Research130 conducted in 2002 has looked at the impact of measures in the 2000 Act relating to the new constitutional, political management and standards arrangements on diversity of representation. The data presented in this paper was collected from a census of all English local authority Chief Executives. Only information about age and gender of councillors was included in the questionnaire although the research team anticipate collecting more detailed information in later stages of the evaluation. The paper also includes information about diversity issues collected during interviews with executive and non executive councillors on site visits to forty local authorities and focus groups held with female councillors held in four authorities. The survey reveals a snapshot of where councils stand at the very beginning of the process of change in constitutional, political management and standards arrangements, which already has been subject to change and will change further. This presents a baseline picture of the structural change that has occurred so far, which will need to be explored in further research. The survey and site visits provide little evidence that the new arrangements have had a detrimental impact overall. The research found great variation in the level of representation of women across different party groups, regions and types of council. It suggests that improvements in diversity relate to wider changes in society and local practice in the way that political parties and councils respond to the challenges they face. The key findings can be summarised as follows:
The researchers argue that this research presents a no change scenario with female and older councillors under-represented. New leaders have an average age of 55 and only 17 per cent were women. However, the research did not find evidence that the reforms stopped women from entering higher levels of representation. Of the total number of cabinet members, 23 per cent were women approximately the same as than proportions of councillors who are women overall. The research provided some evidence that the effects of the new council constitutions on representation vary according to the type of council. The average age of districts was slightly younger (47) as it was in London (47), the metropolitan districts (48) and the unitary authorities (44). County authorities had the highest average age (58). There is a higher representation of women in the counties (29%), and the unitary authorities (27%) and lower in the metropolitan districts (18%), with districts and London lower than the others.
130 ODPM 2003 Policy Paper 1: Diversity under new council constitutions 75
There also appears to be a regional dimension to the variations with proportions of female councillors ranging from 29 per cent in the South East to 16 per cent in the East Midlands. In terms of recruitment, there were strongly expressed views that recruitment is difficult due to general disillusionment with politics. There was some acceptance that new ways of working (e.g. task groups, non-executive councillors acting as champions) would attract new entrants but this view was balanced by the view that new recruits would be recruited anyway because of their commitment. In terms of retention the new constitutions have led to a changing pattern of meetings, but there was no consistent view about the effect of this changing pattern from night to day or vice versa on the ability of non executive councillors to participate fully in Council business. Discussants identified age and employment status as key determinants of the lack of diversity. Without exception the argument was that the barrier to increasing diversity was the degree of time councillors and potential councillors could make available to the role. The people who could make the commitment were older and usually retired or semi-retired.
2.5.5
ON CHOICE... In the report Making Choices131, there is an investigation of this specific form of user involvement in Service Delivery. The key findings in this context are below. What is choice? The research considers that choice should not be regarded as a good-in-itself which should be applied universally across all local authority services. This approach is not likely to be efficient, cost effective, or practical. Nor is it likely to secure user buy-in. Instead choice works best when it meets the following criteria:
it resolves a problem with service delivery; the problem is recognisable by users through experience of the service; the operation of user choice is integral, rather than incidental, to the resolution of the problem.
Who chooses? Separately from offering choice to individual users, enhanced choice may be offered collectively to groups of users. This collective choice can provide democratic legitimacy to decisions, economies of scale, and enable ideas to be pooled. It can be beneficial where individual choice is not practical or desirable, such as:
services relating to public space (e.g. town centre improvements); environmental services (e.g. waste management, recycling);
131 Lent. Adam and Arend, Natalie 2004 Making Choices: how can choice improve local public services? New Local Government Network 76
leisure & cultural services (e.g. sports centres, libraries, museums); services requiring considerable strategic planning & co-ordination (e.g. environmental enhancements).
Park trusts (Milton Keynes) and BIDs (Business Improvement Districts) are identified as possible models for providing users with collective choice in regard to public space. Another model might involve residents dissatisfied with refuse collection being offered choice (through ballot or a residents association) to choose a new provider. The provider could be contracted to a trust set up by residents which would receive direct payment from the authority. But collective choice raises issues about:
whether some geographic areas are better able to set up user groups; the cost of training users to take decisions about choices; potential creation of a new tier of bureaucracy; possible difficulty of securing adequate levels of participation.
What is chosen? Regardless of whether choice is available individually or collectively, users can be offered choice about the way services are delivered, timing, frequency, location etc. Examples currently being offered include:
choice based lettings providing choice over available social housing; BIDs providing choice over the range of town centre services; a range of options for interacting with councils; increased numbers of locations allowable for wedding ceremonies.
The report identifies other possible areas where choice about the way that services in future might be delivered, timing, frequency, location etc. These include:
timing and method of school/community transport; range of options over the form in which meals on wheels food is delivered; flexibility over location for the registration of births and deaths; timing and regularity of refuse collection and over options and priorities for environmental enhancement.
Potential also exists for offering extra services in addition to the basic services currently available by existing local authority providers. These might include:
offering bin-cleaning or garden waste clearance services;
77
provision of archiving or data support services to local businesses & community groups by libraries; advice and support on private building work contracts and design by Development Control departments; financial/management support to voluntary groups.
The report acknowledges that providing greater flexibility and extending services raises issues of cost, and capacity, as well as ethical, legal and administrative issues. How is choice exercised? There are various ways of exercising user choice, including:
simple choice where users choose between options (e.g. ways of interacting with the council); democratic choice where decisions are delegated to user ballots (e.g. LSVTs); users buying extra, or better quality, services offered by public providers (e.g. individual rooms rather than hospital wards); vouchers which enable users to decide between available alternatives (e.g. parental choice of state schools, and choice based lettings). Vouchers might be topped-up by users or allocated on a needs-based system.
How choice is assessed and supported? The report suggests that offering choice to users is resource intensive and requires funds and capacity to be developed at the outset. Consideration needs to be given to various operational issues, including the provision of information and advice; contact between the scheme and users; processes of assessment and reassessment; expressions of choice; monitoring and evaluation. NLGNs report identifies a number of areas where choice is currently being provided in the provision of local authority services:
choice based lettings for social tenancies; direct payments for community care & other social care; large scale voluntary transfers (LSVTs); local housing organisation; business improvement districts (in the US); marriage registration; selection of state sector schooling;
78
park trusts whereby the authority delegates decisions and management of all its open spaces to a board made up of members of the local community (Milton Keynes); extra music/language tuition in schools; individual room, rather than hospital ward.
Additionally local authorities offer some choice over the way that users can interact with the council (e.g. phone, post, internet, internet kiosk, in person). A future publication from the ODPMs Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU)132 on community involvement will provide an evidence base and policy mapping review to provide an examination of the ways in which interactions between service suppliers and users in deprived areas can be enhanced to improve service delivery and how the various mechanisms for this, especially community involvement, affect service quality and outcomes. The report will complement this digest and the Making Choices report.
132 ODPM (forthcoming) Improving Delivery of Mainstream Services in Deprived Areas The Role of Community Involvement. NRU 79
CHAPTER 3

3.1 Introduction
This section presents a number of case studies in areas where research evidence exists in terms of public participation in local services both in decision making and delivery. A large amount of evidence collected to date comes from the area of housing and tenant participation. This area also provides many of the most direct examples of users being directly involved in the provision of services, as well as being involved in consultation. Another short example comes from the evaluation of board elections for New Deal for Communities, and this addresses some issues around models of participation. There is also another example from the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit example, of Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders, with a broad range of examples. There are, however, also three examples which directly concern Local Government: New Council Constitutions, Best Value and Local Strategic Partnerships. Each of these are also relatively new areas, and the current position of evidence reflects this. Much of the evidence is by way of examples and best practice. This provides some good evidence, however, it will also be useful in the longer term to have results of current research work to get more information about impacts of the introduction of initiatives to improve consultation and participation. There is also little evidence at present from the user side. There are four themes used to examine the case studies: Theme 1- The importance of effective relationships with the public Theme 2 Partnership working at the local level Theme 3 Models of local participation and involvement in decision-making what do we know so far? Theme 4 Effects and impacts of devolved decision-making service delivery and accountability
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KEY FINDINGS: Key generic messages from the findings from the case studies for the new localism agenda are: Evidence of improved levels of engagement
There is clear evidence and good examples of genuine efforts by local authorities to improve consultation, participation and engagement of service users and residents as a whole, for example, through: Best Value via consultation as part of service reviews; New Council Constitutions, through Area Based decision-making structures; regeneration initiatives, through New Deal for Communities and Neighbourhood Management; and tenant participation, through, amongst other things, Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs). Different forms of engagement range from user feedback through, for example, extensive consultations, user involvement in policy making and budgeting decisions to users delivering their own services. Engagement may be area-based, service-related or specific issue focused. Although, in general, as Chapter 2 noted, the approaches taken by authorities to facilitating participation tend to be more passive than active.
Impact of more direct participatory initiatives This chapter has, therefore, deliberately examined some of the more active approaches, in particular, those involving direct user engagement in service delivery or decision-making and found:
overall satisfaction and performance levels in situations where users are delivering a service tend to be at least as high, and often higher than local authority provision (e.g. Tenant Management Organisations); there are broader community benefits from more direct user involvement, for example, TMOs acting as a local focus for social and community development activities and successfully promoting improved security; there is evidence that closer working between local authorities and users, and the latter being more actively involved in both consultation and delivery, can be positive in delivering better quality and value for money services.
Capacity requirements The following areas are highlighted in terms of the need to enhance capacity for successful development of active user participation:
for service users and other partners to develop key skills and competencies in, for example, managing performance, contracts and contractors, employment and personnel and health and safety issues, and to allow sufficient time and resources for this to happen; a potential pump-priming budget to develop capacity and training; the need to enhance capacity not just at the level of the individual initiative level but also at an area and authority-wide level to ensure continuity, coverage and representation;
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New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neighbourhoods and Public Services
to ensure links are created between individual initiatives within and between authorities in order to foster networks and share learning and resources; clear demarcation of responsibilities between the council and local users/deliverers of services, possibly through explicit management agreements or contracts; making use of existing successful structures for participation/engagement, wherever possible, to avoid re-inventing the wheel.
Mainstreaming
ensuring that initiatives are part of the mainstream of service provision, in order to avoid sidelining opportunities for more direct user engagement through creating very specific and limited programmes; the need for residents/users to get involved at an early stage in planning and decision making in relation to service delivery; a need for a coherent strategy for promoting the organisational development of service user groups/forums across a local authority; making sure that user forums, panels/boards and steering groups are not isolated but are closely linked into authority-wide decision-making structures about policy and service delivery.
Maintaining Representativeness Representativeness of those involved is a key issue raised in this chapter.
satisfaction, for example, within TMOs was particularly high amongst black and ethnic minority residents: 81% were very satisfied, compared to 51% of non-white social sector tenants; research has also found that women and black and minority ethnic groups are better represented on the boards of TMOs than amongst elected members of local authorities; there are, however, some specific concerns reflected in the research: to make sure systems for ensuring representativeness used by local forums/boards etc. are appropriate and not overly simplistic; and to ensure that people are not recruited from too narrow a band.
Other implementation issues
there is vital need for good quality area and neighbourhood-based data and analysis to underpin new forms service delivery and expenditure that reflect user choices and needs; Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) may have an important role in developing local authority structures for participation and engagement but, at present, they are in early stages of development and have tended to concentrated on specific consultation initiatives rather than a broader, strategic approach to engagement.
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3.2 Example 1 Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) and Tenant Participation

3.2.1 INTRODUCTION These two pieces of work133,134 have been produced for Housing Directorate, ODPM. The work is regarded as among the most advanced in terms of establishing effective ways for local people being involved in the provision of service delivery in their immediate area. What is included here is inevitably a summary. It would be beneficial to look in more detail at such schemes, and to draw out lessons which may be transferable, and identify where it may be less appropriate to map across lessons i.e. those features which work uniquely in their own contexts. Much of what is presented here is taken directly from the two reports, and the findings of both reports are presented in each of the four themes used throughout the digest. 3.2.2 BACKGROUND TENANT MANAGEMENT ORGANISATIONS AND TENANT PARTICIPATION Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) are tenant-controlled organisations, which provide a varying range of management and maintenance services to tenants under a Management Agreement with their landlord. Many TMOs, especially the more established ones, undertake a range of activities over and above their housing role which contribute to the sustainability and empowerment of individuals and the communities in which they live.
There are over 200 established TMOs across 53 local authorities and 81 TMOs in development, covering an estimated 84,000 homes in England. Two-thirds of TMOs are in London, with most of the rest in the North West and the West Midlands, mainly in metropolitan authorities. They range in size from 12 to 9,760 properties with an average size of a little over 400 homes.
TMOs are a diverse, but flourishing sector. The majority of the TMO case studies in the TMO evaluation are performing well in terms of housing management and their own objectives. Most staff and board members are confident that they represent value for money. They are generally well-run organisations, and a number have gone considerably beyond their original remit to develop community and social activities and facilities for their residents.
133 Cairncross, L., Morrell, C., Darke, J. and Brownhall, S. 2002 Tenants managing: an Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England 134 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England Summary 83
TMOs provide a model of what can be achieved by local people in socially excluded communities where training and support is available. They also provide useful, transferable examples of good practice in developing community empowerment and control. The strengths of TMOs have proved difficult to capture, but the research has shown no cause to doubt the value of TMOs, and many good reasons to promote them. The aim of the research was to evaluate TMOs in terms of their own objectives and their success in delivering effective and efficient housing management services. In addition, the researchers looked at issues of governance and accountability, sustainability and community empowerment. Recommendations for good practice emerged from the research findings. The tenant participation research135 also cited in this section aims to outline the changes and trends in the levels of participation which tenants have in local authority service delivery. 3.2.3 THEME 2 PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
Providing a local focus
TMOs are acting as a focus for other community and regeneration initiatives. They provide a resource at the estate level where local residents can promote and often base other projects and activities, while providing a contact point for outside agencies wishing to make links with the local community.
Encouraging participation
In tenant participation136, generally, it was more straightforward to get tenants involved in issue-based campaigns than to garner support for more sustainable levels of influence over long-term local authority strategy and policy-making. This is of course a familiar syndrome. In some cases the creation of vibrant tenants federations had helped to ensure that the dialogue was carried forward but there was sometimes a risk of divisions arising between long-term activists, sporadic activists, issue-centred activists and the non-active.
More than half (55%) of tenants groups find out about TMOs from their local authority and 21% from Section 16 agencies (agencies approved by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to support and advise tenant groups through the Right to Manage process). The main reasons for setting up TMOs are a wish for more say (76%), dissatisfaction with repairs and maintenance (69%), poor housing management (51%) and the physical appearance of an estate (42%). 65% of TMOs have been set up since the introduction of the Right to Manage in 1993.
135 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 136 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 84
Relationships with local authorities
The role of local authorities is important in contributing to the success and sustainability of TMOs, yet this relationship is often problematic. While TMO relationships with tenant participation staff are usually good, there is frequent frustration with other council staff. Areas of potential disagreement are:
allocations; the level of allowances; the division of repair responsibilities; lack of liaison or understanding of the TMOs role; and lack of commitment among some local authority staff and members.
The view of tenant organisations as a kind of arms-length agency of the council, providing services like any other contractor, was not usually expressed explicitly in the tenant participation research, but it was often implicit in the roles and responsibilities organised tenants groups were expected to take on. This might involve:
contract monitoring, where tenants associations become de facto auditors and quantity surveyors; policy and investment option appraisal, in which tenants act as policy analysts; housing advice, where tenants organisations offer a complaints service, debt counselling, and nuisance advice; and community lettings, where advice, support, and estate management-type activity are available.
TMOs and local authorities are generally satisfied with the process of developing the TMO, although some would like greater help with the selection of a training agency, and in developing staff management and employment skills.
Partnership working Recommendations emerging from the TMO research include: Guidance should be provided to tenants groups on how to choose a training agency. More formal monitoring of the quality of training provided by training agencies is needed. Other competencies that could usefully be included in the development process are: employment and personnel, managing contracts and contractors, and health and safety.
85
Greater involvement of council staff and members in training during the development stage could help to build better relationships and understanding on all sides. A local authority liaison officer is essential and links are needed at other levels. The councils liaison officer should ensure that staff are briefed about the TMO. TMOs should be involved in discussions about major works spending and have equitable access to capital funding. TMOs and local authorities should ensure that Management Agreements state clearly the division of responsibilities between TMO and local authority. Staff should have equivalent conditions of employment to their local authority counterparts rates of pay, leave entitlements, and pension rights. TMOs should have access to the local authoritys personnel department for advice concerning staffing matters and to payroll for the administration of staffing and pensions. The CRE Code of Practice for Rented Housing should be more widely promoted. A knowledge of tenant management should form an integral part of housing courses. Many TMOs operate in relative isolation from each other and opportunities for networking and sharing good practice should be promoted, for example, through the National Federation of TMOs and TMO-Online.
3.2.4
THEME 3 MODELS OF LOCAL PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION-MAKING WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR?
Wider impacts on local communities
Improved security Most of the case study TMOs are able to generate surpluses through good financial management and voluntary effort. These are used mainly for environmental and security improvements. This contributes to the wider goal of creating sustainable communities. Most have taken steps to combat crime, such as the installation of CCTV, extra lighting and security doors. A number have turned their estates round from no-go areas into safe places to live. Over and above practical measures, some feel that by creating more cohesive and responsible communities, they have reduced the opportunity for crime. Social activities and community development Many TMOs have taken on a wider role, beyond the limits of the Management Agreement, in terms of social activities and community development. However, there is often an overlap between a TMO and the local tenants and residents association that makes it difficult to be clear what is attributable to the TMO.
86
The development of community spirit is widely identified by TMOs as one of their main achievements, and the majority of residents feel the TMO has made a difference. Seventy Seven percent of tenants agreed that the TMO played an important part in improving the quality of life in the area. Positive experiences Satisfaction with TMOs among black and minority ethnic residents was particularly high: 81% were satisfied with the TMO overall compared with 51% of non-white social sector tenants in the Survey of English Housing 2000/2001137. Generally, TMO board members report increased confidence and skills, although few say that they have gone on to further education, training or employment as a result of their TMO membership. Board members feel positive about the experience of being involved in their TMO, but all emphasise the hard work and, sometimes thankless, nature of it. The average time input of office holders was 13 hours a week in case study TMOs. From the tenant participation research, it appeared that in areas researched, tenant participation in policy making had developed in some authorities to the extent that tenants, rather than officers, were now putting forward the options. For one councils ten-year stock improvement strategy, for example, one Housing Manager described how tenants: ..came up with a very complex series of criteria, matrix decision-making, and started to slot schemes into those. Brilliant! Better than officers could have done. Some problems In some councils, bringing tenants into the decision-making arena did not bring unalloyed benefits. In one research case study138, decision-making influence seemed to have moved to small self-selecting networks of tenants who, because of their knowledge of council officers and procedures, could access information and influence decision takers by their membership of many steering groups, committees and working parties. Elected members felt increasingly by-passed as a result.
Sustainability
In spite of the difficulties experienced by TMOs in recruiting active board members, there is general confidence in the future. There are few examples of established TMOs that have folded. However, the departure of one key worker or board member may affect the sustainability of a TMO. Greater use of co-option may be one way to strengthen representation from hard-to-reach groups and bring new skills and expertise onto TMO boards.
137 Cairncross, L., Morrell, C., Darke, J. and Brownhall, S. 2002 Tenants managing: an Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England 138 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 87
Staffing, resources and user participants
Staffing Most TMOs (85%) employ their own staff in a local office. Generally, staff turnover is low and there are good relationships between staff and board members in case studies. Staff-board relationships are critical to the effective functioning of TMOs. Some staff are attracted to work for TMOs because of the greater independence and variety offered, while others see working for a TMO as insecure with poor career prospects. Some management and maintenance staff commented on the high levels of satisfaction of working for a small TMO: the friendliness, lack of bureaucracy, and increased motivation because of the direct relationship with residents. Dedicated staffing and compacts139 In terms of tenant participation, many councils had responded to the policy agenda, and the new funding made available to develop compacts, by making a special appointment (or redesignating the responsibilities of an existing member of staff) to deal with participation. Conflicting priorities between management and participation140 However, the benefits of having a champion to lead change could, equally, be undermined by the tendency of other staff simply to refer all issues to the participation officer. This might marginalise or compartmentalise the issues of concern to tenants, or render the officers role difficult, if they became too closely associated with tenants interests and went native. In the research case studies, some housing officers referred to the need to keep any participation and management responsibilities separate, due to the potential confusion that may arise if they were combined. Resources for participating service users There were mixed views on whether tenants should be paid in recognition of the time given to participation, or whether this would undermine the essentially voluntary ethos that provoked their interest in the first place.
Some councils gave tenants help in kind (accommodation, furniture, equipment) rather than offering direct financial assistance This tended to reinforce tenant activity in situ, directing attention to the neighbourhood, rather than helping tenants to develop new skills, or to network with other groups at a more strategic level In case study interviews, the benefits of networking were often expressed in terms of less developed groups finding out about the experiences of more successful groups
139 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England Summary 140 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England Summary 88
Networking could also reveal to successful tenants groups just how well they were doing, by receiving positive feedback from groups from other areas.
Overall, this mixed picture of how groups were resourced suggests that many local authorities have yet to establish a coherent strategy for promoting the organisational development of tenants groups. There were exceptions to this trend. One case study authority, for example, used their tenant participation budget allocation as a development vehicle for the tenants umbrella group. Other authorities linked funding of tenants organisations to the process of handing over some aspects of service delivery. Several research case studies had developed Tenants Resource Centres, with varying degrees of autonomy. The development of a Resource Centre could help to sustain tenant involvement beyond the single issue campaign, but it could also lead to the increased professionalisation of key activists, possibly distancing them from their grass-roots base141. Capacity Building A review quoted in the TMO research142 testified to the extent that several local authorities were taking large steps forward in addressing capacity building and resourcing in one case, by providing tenant representatives and chairs of area assemblies with home PCs to plug into the councils information systems. Either decision making or service delivery?143 Although the introduction of compacts and best value was imminent at the time of the case study research, it seemed that improvements in service quality and the extent of tenant influence appeared to constitute different areas of practice. There were also different trajectories for implementing modernisation initiatives, on one hand, and the promotion, monitoring and evaluation of tenant participation, on the other. It is possible that this situation merely reflected the particular stage of policy development, in which councils were attempting to digest the implications of the various initiatives introduced by central government, rather than join it all up. But there were only a few examples in the case studies where the new role for tenants and the partnership thinking behind compacts seemed to have penetrated to the heart of both council decision-making and service delivery.
Openness, diversity and inclusiveness144
All TMO case studies have some form of equal opportunities policy although many do not appear aware of the CREs Code of Practice for Rented Housing. In all cases, all new tenants are told about the TMO and invited to join.
141 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England Summary 142 Cairncross, L., Morrell, C., Darke, J. and Brownhall, S. 2002 Tenants managing: an Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England 143 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England Summary 144 Cairncross, L., Morrell, C., Darke, J. and Brownhall, S. 2002 Tenants managing: an Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England 89
Better representation? Women and black and minority ethnic groups are better represented on the boards of TMOs than on local authorities. More than three-quarters of tenants agreed that their TMO was representative of the people who live there, and that the TMO treats all types of people fairly. More than 80% of black and minority ethnic respondents agreed with these statements.
Forms of Communication, information and participation
Paper based information or interactive consultation?145 Departmental newsletters and annual reports were by far the most common methods aiming to promote tenant participation. This preference for anonymous and text-based forms of promotion over more interactive and experiential forms such as discussions during new tenant sign-up procedures or visits to other landlords and tenants groups might make sense in resource management terms. However, the predominance of paper-based tell and sell forms of communication from the local authority to tenants supported a model of landlord-tenant relations designed for interaction with individuals rather than groups. The publications were used more as vehicles for promoting and disseminating local authority practice than enhancing tenant involvement in decision-making processes. A 2000 review identified an increasing use by local authorities of web pages and links and market research techniques to promote participation with a greater use than before of surveys, focus groups and issue conferences. However, their function still seemed largely cast in the mould of disseminating or extracting information than developing a dialogue. Considerable attention has been devoted to the development of forums, panels, steering groups and other structures, but a smarter understanding is needed of how these will link into crucial decisions about policy and service delivery and these questions will become more urgent then ever in the face of fundamental change to the local authority housing sector in the years ahead;
Models of Local Participation Some conclusions from tenant participation research146
Need for earlier involvement in policy In general terms, local authorities are moving, a little unsteadily, to integrate the lessons culled from special regeneration initiatives, and a stronger customer focus into mainstream practice. However, this did not necessarily allow tenants to enter into dialogue with officers at an earlier stage in the operational chain. Some of the research case study authorities had introduced ambitious initiatives to bring tenant involvement into play throughout the housing service. While both strategic and front-line staff had often been initially anxious about the introduction of such measures, these reservations usually disappeared once the system became established.
145 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England Summary 146 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 90
Limited involvement in evaluation of service performance Overall, the case study research147 revealed that participation had improved quality in existing services and had extended services into novel areas more focused on community development. Tenant involvement in the evaluation of service performance was, however, often limited, with some authorities relying on questionnaire surveys alone. Nevertheless, in three of the case studies where tenant involvement had been structured more carefully into service assessment, all parties believed that this had helped tailor service delivery and attune priorities more effectively as a result. Issues in working with Local Government diverse strategies For some of the more critical tenants interviewed in the case studies148, as well as some national stakeholders, the whole best value review and tenant compact regime was considered largely as a diversion or an unwanted burden. This response reflected some of the more intractable difficulties in mixing policies designed to transform the way local government is managed, represented and evaluated with simultaneously forging a new role for tenants in a service which is likely to be increasingly detached from mainstream local government responsibilities in the years ahead. This research has reviewed a policy process that is rapidly unfolding at both central and local government levels. The development of a National Framework for compacts, rather than a more directive menu of suggestions and injunctions, might be criticised for vagueness or lack of focus. But the sheer variety of structures, methods and experiences of tenant involvement in the local authority sector uncovered in this research suggests that any tighter forms of specification would have found it difficult to embrace the different traditions, cultures and problems in landlord-tenant relationships across the country. There is now such a diversity in the strategies, agencies and organisational structures for tenant participation that any standardised approach or formula would be inappropriate. 3.2.5 THEME 4 EFFECTS AND IMPACTS OF DEVOLVED DECISION-MAKING SERVICE DELIVERY AND ACCOUNTABILITY The overall evidence of the research case studies into tenant participation was unequivocal. Tenant involvement had a positive impact on service quality no-one thought services had deteriorated as a result of tenants being involved, informed, or consulted.149 More than half (53%) of TMOs wish to increase their responsibilities, mainly by either increasing the range of functions or the number of properties covered. A few TMOs are looking at becoming registered social landlords and/or becoming involved in neighbourhood management.
147 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 148 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 149 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 91
Performance
Good performance and high satisfaction According to the research, in most cases, TMOs are performing better than their host local authorities and compare favourably with the top 25% of local authorities in England in terms of repairs, relets, rent collection and tenant satisfaction. This was supported by the views of board members and staff. Contrary to the views of some observers, TMOs are not a soft touch on either rent collection or tenancy management. Case study TMOs follow their local authority policy and procedures, but tend to act sooner and have the advantage/disadvantage of personal knowledge. Some combine a robust and assertive approach with preventive work, such as involvement in credit unions and activities for young people. Tenant satisfaction 77% of TMO tenants were satisfied with their TMO overall compared with 67% of council tenants in the Survey of English Housing (2000/01). Ballots of TMO residents held every 5 years on whether or not continue as a TMO also reflect high levels of resident satisfaction within TMOs. Levels of complaints are low, although this is an area where formal recording procedures were weak. The failure of some local authorities to deliver an adequate level of service which led to the establishment of many TMOs, and the poor quality of the housing stock which some TMOs have taken over, makes their achievements in terms of performance all the more remarkable.
Governance, accountability and recording performance150
Nearly a quarter (24%) of TMO residents have attended a TMO meeting. Attendance at AGMs varied from 1% to 50% of membership. Where turn-outs were low, board members were concerned to increase attendance. Few residents put themselves forward as committee members and elections are rarely contested. However, board members are more representative of their communities in terms of race and gender than are elected members on local authorities. Practice about whether or not meetings are open or closed varies. Some TMO boards are reluctant to have open management meetings while others allow any resident to come and observe and raise issues.
Service delivery and accountability The main barriers and recommendations emerging from the TMO research151
The main barriers to increasing the extent and effectiveness of tenant management are:
lack of knowledge of the tenant management option; poor networking and sharing of information between TMOs;
150 Cairncross, L., Morrell, C., Darke, J. and Brownhall, S. 2002 Tenants managing: an Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England 151 Cairncross, L., Morrell, C., Darke, J. and Brownhall, S. 2002 Tenants managing: an Evaluation of Tenant Management Organisations in England 92
a dwindling pool of potential activists; uninterested or hostile local authorities; and uncertainty over the consequences of large-scale voluntary transfer.TMOs should consider greater use of co-option to strengthen committees and widen representation. where there are a large number of seats on a TMO board and places remain unfilled, it may be useful to reduce the size of the board to a more effective working number. guidance to councils and TMOs on performance information and monitoring arrangements is needed. Performance information requirements should be limited to a small number of indicators. a formal record of complaints and how they are dealt with should be kept. TMO meetings should be open and non-members encouraged to attend. Part of the agenda may be closed, if necessary, for the discussion of confidential business. TMOs should adopt a code of conduct for committee members setting out expected behaviour and practice and the mechanisms for resolving conflict. guidelines setting out the relationship of the committee to staff in terms of behaviour and practice are needed. TMO tenants should be included in local authority satisfaction surveys, as part of best value, to allow monitoring and comparison of data. Service delivery and accountability Some conclusions from tenant participation research152
Representativeness Overall, both TMOs and Tenant participation appear to have improved representativeness for tenants. It is worth noting, however, a couple of concerns: A few authorities were now claiming automatic 100 per cent representation of their tenants through new structures such as customer panels and area forums. This underlines the need for caution over adopting a bean counting approach to tenant participation. One or two councils were being selective and increasingly stringent about the funding of tenants groups, whilst at the same time claiming that overall participation was more extensive than before, according to a basic numerical measure. In the research case studies, the number of people involved in tenants groups, whether at a neighbourhood or borough-wide level, was often very small, and some doubts were raised about the narrow band from which they were recruited. In one case study, the representativeness of the tenants umbrella group was also questioned.
152 Cole, I., Hickman, P., Reid, B. and Whittle, S. 2001 Tenant Participation in Transition: Issues and Trends in the development of tenant participation in the local authority sector in England 93
Measuring success Some of the objectives listed in local authority participation strategies ranged from the nebulous (to increase public accountability and give people control over their environment ) to the mundane (to consult and involve individuals about any housing management issue.). More effective statements were phrased in terms of tangible goals and milestones, amenable to evaluation. However, measures to evaluate a slippery concept such as participation were still in their infancy. The strategies naturally tended to reflect the experience of the local authority in developing participation, the extent to which tenants groups were organised and well-established, and the history of tenant activism locally.
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3.3 Example 2 New Deal for Communities

3.3.1 INTRODUCTION TO NEW DEAL FOR COMMUNITIES New Deal for Communities (NDC) has been mentioned in literature as a good example of community engagement. The report cited here153 refers mainly to the election of board members for NDC and covers some questions on models of working, working with different groups, reasons for participation and the mechanics of elections. It does not relate to the services or activities covered by NDC. 3.3.2 THEME 2 PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
Involvement for all
The report found that there was some recognition that local people were underrepresented and a concern that residents should have real input into decision making. Important issues should not just be left to the professionals. There was a perception by candidates that those elected to the boards were in two camps, and that more people from a less socially privileged background should be encouraged to stand for election. They also felt that special help and understanding of personal circumstances was needed for people from this sort of background.
Local people and local issues
Many people wanted to see improvements for particular groups or on particular policy issues, for example: education in early years, young people, poor housing and youth crime. There was a sense that standing for election was a way of giving something back to the local community and becoming involved in its future, contributing to a better quality of life in the neighbourhood. Several candidates said that things would only improve if local people became involved, which was why they decided to stand. 3.3.3 THEME 4 EFFECTS AND IMPACTS OF DEVOLVED DECISION-MAKING SERVICE DELIVERY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Election turnout
There was support for all postal elections, and a sense that elections had been carried out fairly. There were some alternative voting systems not all used the first past the post system, and two areas used the single transferable vote. This was believed to be an appropriate approach to ensure proportionality between the voters preferences and eventual winner of the elections. There were, however, concerns that ballot papers could be confusing if there were a large number of candidates for a large number of posts (such as 45 candidates for 12 posts in Brighton).
153 Rawlings, C., Thrasher, M. 2002 NDC Elections: A Study in Community Engagement Working paper prepared for the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 95
Factors affecting voter participation
Factors affecting voter participation included: apathy stemming from mistrust and past promises most people believe nothing will change; impatience for results; getting people involved and interested; and, hard to reach groups (young people, males and some ethnic groups whose support structure may lay outside of the neighbourhood). There was also a perception that the NDC may have been captured by the council. Both in this election and elsewhere, the more socially deprived an area is, the lower voter turnout is likely to be. There were a number of local factors which were important in the election which can be seen as relevant in terms of structures and accountability:
Dissatisfaction or mistrust with past local authority performance; Isolation or fragmentation of the community and a sense that it was treated as the poor relation to other areas; Concern that money should not be spent on existing local council quangos. Recommendations for future elections
These included:
Paid staff to be more visible and active in the community personal contact was vital. Co-ordinated and sustained (local) media coverage and involvement. Hard to reach groups better targeted. Young people to be involved through school visits and links to citizenship in the national curriculum, possibly lower voting age. Engaging those who see voluntary activity as a way of acquiring new skills and eventually a paid job (as well at the time-rich middle classes). Clarity around benefit rules for volunteers. Involving community leaders. Not relying on public meetings as they tend to attract the same people. The Government should set up mobile support units to offer advice on running elections. Ensuring all those eligible get their ballot paper.
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3.4 Example 3 Neighbourhood Management

3.4.1 BACKGROUND WHAT IS NEIGHBOURHOOD MANAGEMENT? The first Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders (NMPs) rolled out in July 2001 and the second round of Pathfinders December 2003. The aim of NMPs is to contribute to the ODPM aim to ensure that in 10-20 years nobody will be seriously disadvantaged by where they lived. With this aim in mind, the NMP programme focuses on the 88 most deprived areas as they are the areas where people are most likely to be adversely affected in terms of health, employment etc where they live, and they aim to narrow the gap between deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country. In total, there are 35 pathfinders (20 Round 1, and 15 Round 2). Funding is provided by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, although it is envisaged that over time they will become self funding. Neighbourhood management is a process not a project. It is a way that communities can work with local agencies to improve and join-up their services at a very local neighbourhood level. This might include better management of the local environment, increasing community safety, improving healthcare and education, and encouraging economic growth in the neighbourhood. The key point is that residents concerns should be more important in defining what is done than agencies assumptions about what should be done. The process will inevitably vary from place to place, but will normally share some common factors:
It is a mechanism for delivering service improvements at the neighbourhood level. It requires regular partnership meetings/liaison between a wide range of service providers, residents and other local stakeholders. Participants must all share a common aim: to improve local services and make them customer rather than provider-led.
A number of organisations have an important role to play in neighbourhood management. These can include local authorities, the police, health services, development trusts, housing associations and regeneration companies. Neighbourhood management partnerships will need support at the strategic level through the active involvement of the local strategic partnership. Whoever takes the lead in delivery, the key to neighbourhood management is effective engagement of all relevant stakeholders. Neighbourhood management can particularly help tackling important quality of life (liveability) issues in communities such as community safety, housing, environmental quality and services for young people. Difficult issues have too often been passed from one body to another with no-one taking overall responsibility. To combat this, 82 million is being made available to 35 Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders to test new ways of delivering local services. Neighbourhood managers will be a single point of contact for residents and businesses and will have the clout to negotiate with providers about how services are delivered. By making sure there is someone taking overall responsibility at
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neighbourhood level, residents will get services that meet their needs. In addition to the Pathfinder programme, support is being provided to the wider family of neighbourhood management initiatives through the neighbourhood Management National Network. A programme of evaluation is in place, and the following findings and examples are taken from the evaluation154. 3.4.2 THEME 2 PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
Building on grassroots support the Stanley Green NM partnership, Derwentside The Stanley Green Partnership is fortunate that in terms of community capacity it can build upon several active and influential community groups. South Stanley Partnership is currently managing St Stephens Hall and will be responsible for its development. Craghead Partnership will be responsible for managing the Craghead Nursery as a development trust. New Kyo Partnerships are organising part of the Aging Well programme, a proposed intervention from the Health theme group and the proposed Britain in Bloom bid is run by local residents. South Moor partnership are leading on local environmental improvements. There are also signs that community involvement is growing. Over 70 people have taken part in Open Forums of which 17 have attended further theme group meetings.
Encouraging participation
The Community Involvement Team Changes in Common, Greenwich The work of the Community Involvement Team is one example of how Changes in Common has built local community capacity. This Team was set up to develop the capacity of residents to actively engage and deliver activities in their own part of their neighbourhood. It started with 10 residents and one tenants and residents association (TNA) and has grown to 80 residents, eight TNAs and one community group. The community involvement team have worked with residents to help build up their skills to enable them to contribute to Pathfinder activities by becoming more involved in the decision making process with service providers. Some of these residents have consequently begun to get involved with local schools and youth clubs. The team helped with the local election process in September 2003, with a major undertaking, by knocking on every door in the local neighbourhood. This exercise enabled the Pathfinder to collect information from residents about their priorities for the area, their interests and residents names and contact details for the Pathfinders database. It has acted as a starting point for getting the local community more involved in the processes of changing local services and has strengthened the Partnerships links with the neighbourhood.
154 Each pathfinder has had a review Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Evaluation 2003/04 Second Year Evaluation Report, April 2004, SQW Ltd/UOC/University of West of England/GFA Consulting and these will be the basis for the overall 2003-4 Annual review (forthcoming). 98
3.4.3
THEME 3 MODELS OF LOCAL PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION MAKING
Northlands Park Youth Council Interlock Northlands Park, Basildon Youth is one of Interlocks specific themes. This responds to the relatively large population of young people in Northlands Park, their concerns about boredom and the lack of local facilities; and older residents preoccupations about youth nuisance in the area and their feelings of intimidation. The Council Youth Team began a programme of outreach work (at a pace and level of formality that young people have been comfortable with) while Interlock arranged facililities. The Youth Council now has an average attendance of at least 25, and works with Basildon District Council Youth Service, Voluntary Sector, Basildon PCT and local schools. Trust and credibility have been gradually established on all sides, through a combination of regular discussion and higher-profile events both youth-centred and involving the wider community. This has now reached the stage where the Youth Councils is starting to provide an articulate voice for young people. Its involvement in media activities linked to Interlock and the Neighbourhood Committee is being considered and its involvement in the partnerships decision-making mechanisms is being reviewed. There are indications that facilities being designed in conjunction with the Youth Council have been improved by that consultation; and they are better used and preserved by the sense of ownership which has developed from the opportunity to comment on proposals directly relevant to young people and then seeing them acted on relatively quickly. There are also signs of greater cohesion between the young people themselves as well as with other residents, community wardens etc, which involving young people in inter-generational activities has contributed to.
Building and utilising community capacity Great Lever, Bolton The Great Lever Pathfinder has provided initial funding for, and brought together key agencies with specific expertise to organise, a Community Involvement Team. This consists of 14 local volunteers who have been given training and typically spend 3-6 paid hours per week facilitating functions such as community events (including community fun-days, day events by community groups, and forums where the opinions of residents are assessed). They have also carried out baselining and monitoring research on perceptions of environmental quality, linked to research carried out by the Local Authority. The Team has proven to be a resource that can be continuously utilised by the Pathfinder, and represents a resource for Great Lever into the future. Building on this success, the Pathfinder is offering further training to other residents on community capacity building in 2004-5. An attractive feature of this approach is the strong potential for its expansion trained community workers can go on to bring others into working for the wider benefit of Great Lever although to date it has been dependent on pathfinder funding.
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Older peoples network group Gospel Oak, Camden The Gospel Oak (Camden) pathfinder set up an Older Persons Network group to help involve local residents in Pathfinder activity and to give them a greater voice in the local area. The pathfinders Community Development Worker facilitates the group (which had over 100 people attend the last meeting) and a group of residents help to organise the meetings. Information and feedback from the group is fed into the GO Steering Group for Older People, which is a provider forum for local agencies that provide services for older people in the area. However, service providers also use the group as a consultation forum, and have followed up discussions with specific actions to improve a range of public services. High attendances at these meetings and service providers willingness to engage with attendees have been mutually supported. Attendance have also been maintained by offering other activities at the same time, e.g. blood pressure checks, dances and personal safety advice.
Staffing, resources and user participants
Street representatives Springbourne and Boscombe West, Bournemouth A key feature of Springbourne and Boscombe Wests street cleaning project has been the recruitment of street representatives who are asked to give about half an hour a week to monitoring how the scheme is working. The street reps report cases of drug debris, overgrown bushes etc. to the local authority every week, using a monitoring form (based on national ENCAMS grades of cleanliness). They also check gullies, street furniture and pavements which helps the local authority plan its services. The local authority has recognised the value of having street reps and is going to replicate the idea in another area in Bournemouth.
Openness, diversity and inclusiveness
Promoting Diversity Knutton Cross Heath, Newcastle-under-Lyme An important aspect of the Knutton Cross Heath Pathfinders work has been to promote diversity. This not only means tolerance and understanding of racial and cultural differences but also acceptance of people who are often victimised because of their sexuality or a disability. In Knutton Cross Heath vandalism of facilities used by disabled residents was a particular problem. Efforts to increase understanding of and respect for difference within the community through education and dialogue appear to have curbed this.
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Open Forum at Knutton Cross Heath Board meetings Newcastle-under-Lyme The NMP Board meetings are open to all residents and others who wish to attend. The open nature of Board meetings followed an earlier SRB programme, and it was clear that a transparent approach was a good way of keeping more people informed in a more precise way about the NMPs progress and issues arising. Towards the end of Year 1, the NMP found that interruptions from the floor while valid opinions tended to distract and elongate Board meetings. In order to maintain the structure and flow of Board meetings, but continue to encourage open access, it introduced an open forum slot for the final 15 minutes of each board meeting effectively an informal any other business when non Board members can put across their points of view and ask questions of Board members and others present. This NMP has found a useful mechanism to ensure that it can continue to adopt a fully transparent approach, listening to the views of non Board members and at the same time remain focused on its Agenda.
Community Cohesion Officer Parkfield/Mill Lane, Stockton The Parkfield/Mill Lane pathfinder recognises the need to take targeted action to engage with the BME communities that form 20% of the neighbourhoods population and improve community cohesion. The local authority also recognised the need to assist cohesion through improving services to make them more accessible to the BME community, and also to raise awareness of diversity issues among SBC staff. In order to contribute to all these aims, and to build on its existing connections with BME communities, the pathfinder appointed a Community Cohesion Officer in September 2003, jointly funded on a sliding scale to become wholly council-funded over three year. He is responsible for developing projects which will promote cohesion, including the BME Community Wardens; and for developing links with organisations with particular responsiblities for minority ethnic communities such as the Stockton Refugee Network, the Stockton International Family Centre and the Councils Planning and Action Team for Asylum Seekers and Refugees and its Community Cohesion and Diversity Group. The officer is also piloting consultation approaches with the BME community to establish needs, and learning from this will feed into the local authoritys Community Cohesion Plan.
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Forms of Communication, information and participation
Intelligence gathering and networking in the local community Kendray, Barnsley The Kendray Pathfinder views improving the quality of local intelligence about services as critical to encouraging service providers to change patterns of delivery. Funding the development of a community website has generated a wealth of local knowledge which has improved collective understanding of local needs and shortcomings in existing services. This project, coupled with funding of a community newspaper run entirely by residents and also the hiring of public relations consultants has not just improved communications and awareness between partners. It has also boosted local morale and pride and created a sense of gathering momentum. The Kendray Initiative is placing residents in the lead on many forms of information gathering and networking (e.g. youth participation programme) to promote more customer-led services and ensure resident ownership of solutions. They also hope that such forms of participation will outlive the Pathfinder.
Match/makers consultation on Lismore Circus Gospel Oak, Camden The Gospel Oak pathfinder led in addressing low use of the Lismore Circus public open space, in the pathfinder neighbourhood. In order to overcome consultation fatigue, and to find new ways to engage local people in influencing their local environment, the pathfinder employed an artist and architect, who used a consultation technique they had designed, called match/makers. Between June and October 2003 match/makers conducted a range of creative informal consultation opportunities, in and around Lismore Circus. These included:
Crazy golf event BBQ Temporary playground features Somali Community Group lunch Jumble sale A temporary dog shed as a way of consulting with dog owners One-to-one conversations in and around Lismore Circus Re-enactment of 1950s Park Wardens
This generated feedback from over 140 residents, clarifying local perceptions of the value and limitations of Lismore Circus. The pathfinder used these comments to create a series of recommendations about the space at Lismore Circus and how it might be improved. This in turn was followed up by an Outdoor Information Fair at Lismore Circus, so that residents could understand how their involvement had influenced the priorities for the area, and to generate enthusiasm for driving forward the priorities identified.
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3.5 Example 4 Best Value

3.5.1 BACKGROUND WHAT IS BEST VALUE? The Best Value regime requires local authorities to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. To this end councils have to develop a corporate strategy, undertake a programme of reviews to examine the purpose of every function and the most effective means of procuring services, produce performance plans and subject plans to audit and services to external inspection. A key aspect of the review process is public/user consultation.155 3.5.2 THEME 1 THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PUBLIC
Improving consultation
Many approaches to consultation are in fairly widespread use in local government. The Best Value framework though requires authorities to go beyond these in at least two important respects. First, they need to consult not only with users and their representatives but with the whole community. Second, they have to involve local people not just in feeding back information about past performance but also in setting future standards. This calls for more in-depth dialogue which cannot be achieved through traditional methods of consultation. The following lists some key findings from the baseline report and some case studies from the pilot programme. Future research includes a good practice report which will provide more recent case study examples particularly focusing on the impact of the Best Value regime rather than its implementation, which the project has evaluated so far. 3.5.3 THEME 2 PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
Some Key Findings from the Baseline report Prior to the introduction of Best Value less than a third of authorities reported that most/all services regularly consulted with service users (29%), the public (27%) and other local agencies (27%) and consultation with the private sector (8%) was far less common. Service officers reported that consultation was a feature of most reviews undertaken in the first year of the regime. Most authorities had focused in particular on consultation with service users and front-line staff. Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents indicated that none of the reviews in their authority had consulted with local businesses and nearly a fifth reported that none of their authoritys reviews had involved trades union representatives.
155 DETR 1998 Good Practice, Best Value: Improving Local Public Services 103
3.5.4
THEME 3 MODELS OF LOCAL PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION MAKING
Some Key Findings from the Baseline report The was a range of approaches among authorities to consultation reflecting the considerable scope for local interpretation within the guidance from central government guidance. Both consultation and comparison need therefore to be scoped carefully to match the needs of a review and the time available and, crucially, to test the cost-effectiveness of current and alternative approaches to service delivery. There is clear evidence from both the census and case studies that Best Value has led to a significant increase in the level and breadth of consultation and comparisons in many services (some of which did not previously undertake any such activities). Even where there were no radical changes authorities have become more userfocused and outward looking and, perhaps to enable them to think outside the box. Some case study examples from the Best Value Pilot Study156
Dissemination of Information EXAMPLE: Community Roadshows Ipswich Borough Council Ipswich Councils Community Roadshows were designed to provide information about the authority to the public and also to give an opportunity for users and citizens to make their views known. Stands, erected in public places on Saturdays are staffed by ward councillors and officers who provide information to the public and also listen to local concerns. These roadshows were inexpensive to run and are seen as being a very effective means of making contact with people.
EXAMPLE: IT in the community project Bristol City Council Bristol City Council was using its IT in the community project to explore the role of ICT can play in providing the community with access to meaningful performance measures. The project built upon the Digital City Bristol initiative, developed in partnership with Hewlett-Packard and the University of the West of England. Its aim was to enable people to access sustainable and visually appealing information about the city. A pilot site was launched in March 1997. There were at the time of the good practice report 22 public access points, consisting of multi-media kiosks and multi-media PCs, providing free access to relevant websites and the councils first stop shops, operated via touchscreens and installed in libraries and community centres.
156 ODPM 2003 Changing to improve: 10 case studies from the evaluation of the Best Value Regime 104
Consultation EXAMPLE: Listening Days London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham ran a series of listening days. The first took place in February 1998 and a second was held in early July the following year. Sixty managers and councillors interviewed shoppers and householders. The interviewees were not a statistically representative sample of local people but there was an attempt to reach a cross-section of the community. They asked about views of the council, the locality and a range of local agencies and services as well as whether people would like to be involved in deciding council spending priorities. The results informed a range of council policies and were reported to the community through public meetings and in short colour booklets.
EXAMPLE: Quality of life consultation Braintree District Council Braintree District Council developed a community planning process which depended on close joint working with a network of parish and town councils and the Rural Community Council. Clusters of two or more parishes were holding public meetings to discuss quality of life issues and conducted household surveys. This bottom up approach to information gathering was expected to elicit a higher response rate and provide better quality information than traditional residents surveys. Cluster meetings were expected to become the basis for regular liaison with local people.
EXAMPLE: Guidelines for consultation London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden has undertaken a comprehensive review of its approach to consulting the community. This included asking local people how they wished to be consulted. One of the outcomes was a set of clear consultation guidelines which were adopted in 1996. The Council has since conducted a further review which analysed and evaluated the impact of the earlier work and which led to the refinement of the original guidelines.
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Local Invovement EXAMPLE: Area Needs Analysis Leeds City Council Leeds City Council adopted an area based approach to piloting Best Value which was designed to co-ordinate key services in two wards. It used an already established approach to Community Needs Analysis as a means of identifying communities and other agencies the services which need to be improved and to formulate action plans to implement necessary changes. Analyses brought together:
statistical data; the views of ward councillors and of officers, from partners and the Council, who have particular service expertise; and in-depth consultation with local people.
This approach attracted support from all key stakeholders, including ward councillors, community groups and local residents. Best Value forums in each ward which comprise ward councillors, representatives of relevant agencies and local residents play a key role in designing and undertaking the analyses.
EXAMPLE: Customer Panels Newark and Sherwood District Council Customer Panels have been established for each of the year one Best Value services in Newark and Sherwood District Council. An example is Environmental Services which operated four separate panels covering Food Safety and Occupational Health, Cleansing and Waste Management, Environmental Protection and Pest Control and Private Sector Housing. Each panel had between eight and ten members, including service users and people from a wide range of organisations which have an impact on the service. Each panel reviewed the appropriateness of the service as it is currently provided, agreed service objectives and a range of performance targets and areas for improvement which have been incorporated into the local performance plan.
EXAMPLE: Involving Older people Southampton City Council Southampton City Council focused on ways of improving the quality of life of older people. Central to this is an attempt to engage older people in a much more detailed dialogue about their needs and preferences. The council has a Feedback Panel of 1,200 residents (and engages with local people through focus groups, user panels and community action forums). It was also exploring ways of increasing user involvement in the citys Older Person Forum (which is currently made up largely of care providers) and held regular, specially designed, events (including some social activities and food), in a variety of locations around the city particularly in places where older people already gathered.
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EXAMPLE: Local Involvement, Local Action Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council introduced a major initiative called Local Involvement, Local Action which aimed to increase local peoples influence over service delivery. It operated through a network of thirty nine ward sub-committees and, among other benefits, is seen as having helped to achieve sustainable regeneration
Involving users in service improvement
The ongoing long term evaluation of Best Value being conducted by Cardiff Business School for ODPM has revealed a number of examples of how authorities are involving local people and stakeholders in reviewing their services...
EXAMPLE: Bristol City Council A review of the council tax collection service in 1999 included a market testing exercise. A very broadly based review of services to older people was conducted from 1999 to 2001. The review, which involved all the key stakeholders, designed a consensual programme of improvements for the service. The service was inspected in 2002 and judged to serve some people well with promising prospects of improvement. The headline changes included: the development of very sheltered housing; care direct; a single assessment process; setting up of a business unit for the home care service.
EXAMPLE: Vale Royal Borough Council Vale Royals Managing our Business more Efficiently (MoBE) review prompted a number of improvements in the councils back office functions: external partnership for legal services; major changes in procurement including a purchasing consortium in partnership with Macclesfield and Warrington; reorganisation of print unit and typing facilities; adoption of EFQM and verification framework for benefits. The Engaging with our Customers review conducted along side MoBE led amongst other things to the establishment of a one-stop shop at the councils offices. An inspection report published in 2003 ranked the service good with promising prospects of improvement.
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EXAMPLE: Westminster Innovative approaches to procurement in Housing management and maintenance a shift to area based contracts has saved a significant amount. Users were involved in the development and awarding of the contracts, as well as monitoring. The authority is working in partnership with the contractors. Now that the service is provided through an ALMO they are still focused on improving the partnership with the contractors. Customer Services Initiative front line services provided in partnership with the private sector, expect that this will lead to improvements in services for users. In addition, it will be used to gather data about users to feed into service developments.
3.5.5
THEME 4 EFFECTS AND IMPACTS OF DEVOLVED DECISION MAKING
Some Key Findings from the Baseline report: Three-quarters of the Local Authority respondents to the Best Value Survey, which formed part of the baseline evaluation, saw the demands of citizens and users as a key driver of local improvement. Nearly 40% of respondents believed users were key in determining Best Value policy.
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3.6 Example 5 A case study of emerging lessons from New Council Constitutions
3.6.1 INTRODUCTION TO NEW COUNCIL CONSTITUTIONS
Modernising Local Authorities
The Local Government Act, 2000 put in train the Governments intention to modernise local authorities, with a broad ranging scheme to promote democratic renewal:
Part II of the Act provided for new constitutions offering four options for the establishment of executive arrangements including two forms of elected mayors, the cabinet form and a streamlined committee system for smaller authorities. Part II also provided for the establishment of overview and scrutiny committees Part III set out provisions for a new ethical framework.
To ensure that local authorities are equipped to function in this new era, the wholesale modernisation of political structures was mandated, together with the measures to promote a greater degree of trust in councils. Appropriate management structures were seen as crucial in making councils more responsive and accountable to their local communities.
The best practice report
The best practice report157 describes good practice and innovation in a range of local authorities seeking to shape their constitutions beyond the basic models provided by the legislative and regulatory framework. Some of the examples are accompanied by analysis of how, in implementing new decision-making structures, Councils have also been meeting the objectives of the wider modernisation agenda, including new localism. Each example applies only to one council, although the principles of good practice underlying it may be transferable. It is worth noting that this report contains less about evidence of success, and more about structures for effective working, i.e. process outcomes rather than delivery/performance outcomes. There is nothing in the report about customer satisfaction with area arrangements; when it was compiled it was probably a bit early to start measuring this.
The Baseline report
The baseline report158 from the long term evaluation begins to offer a wider picture of the ways in which these changes may be seen to impact in the future. The report is descriptive of implementation rather than impact.
157 ODPM 2003 Strengthening Local Democracy: Making the Most of New Council Constitutions 158 ODPM 2003 Implementing the 2000 Act with respect to New Council Constitutions and the Ethical Framework: Baseline findings from a long term evaluation (Baseline Report) 109
Recent and forthcoming reports
A summary159 of evidence so far considers development in terms of: strengthening leadership, overview and scrutiny, separation of powers, democratic renewal and diversity. The second annual report160 outlines the processes which have been used in implementation. There are also issues papers on Mayors161 and Alternative Arrangements162, and forthcoming survey reports on views of officers, stakeholders and councillors163,164, as well as issues papers on leadership and hung and balanced authorities and various future reports as part of the long-term evaluation. The overall conclusion from these reports is that From the perspective of the advocates of the legislation it would be difficult to conclude anything other than that implementation has been reasonably successful. Authorities have got on and put the new arrangements into operation and done so in a way that appears to enable decisions to be made on a relatively smooth and effective basis. The concepts of the forward plan and key decisions although subject to a variety of interpretations, reflecting local choices and circumstances, appear to have become a normal way of conducting business in most local authorities. People still in many cases see some limitations to the transparency of the decision making under the new arrangements but there is not a widespread sense that the system is more opaque than the previous one. Indeed decision making is seen as speedier and the leadership capacity of the council is viewed as having been enhanced... For now we conclude that the dire warnings of chaos from some who opposed the 2000 Act have not come to fruition. Local government has proved itself yet again to be capable of implementing a complex change in a manner that reflects well on its basic administrative and managerial competence. Equally what it has failed to do is to take full political advantage so far of the opportunities for a new style of politics and a new relationship with the public created by the Act. Some of the more specific findings are outlined in the themes below. 3.6.2 THEME 1 THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PUBLIC In the baseline report, the key issue is to provide an open and public framework for decision-making, which stops the public losing confidence in their councils decisions, individual councillors becoming disillusioned with their ability to influence local decisions, and local people being discouraged from standing for election.
159 ODPM 2004 A Summary of Research Evidence on New Council Constitutions in Local Government 160 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report 161 Stoker, G 2004 How are mayors measuring up? Preliminary findings 162 Gains, F 2004 The Implementation of New Council Constitutions in Alternative Arrangement Authorities 163 John, P (forthcoming). Stakeholders and Officers and the New Council Constitution: Report of the ELG Sample Survey 2003 164 Rao, N 2004 forthcoming Councillors and the New Council Constitution: Report of the ELG Sample Survey 2003 110
In recent reports: In all the cases visited there was difficulty in attracting members of the public to full council meetings. Across the ELG case study visits a number of problems with full council were identified: lack of clarity over routing of issues in legislation and in councils constitution; lengthy agendas; overtly political behaviour; councillor misunderstanding of the role of full council; lack of public involvement and press interest; seen as symbolic rather than of real importance in the constitution. Full council has not been successful in engaging the public and evidence suggests that non-executive members are also having difficulty engaging with the new structures. A majority of councillor and officers disagree with the statement that backbenchers are more engaged165. Increasing public involvement in the decision making of the council is one important element of democratic renewal. The evidence so far suggests that reforms have made limited impact on public participation. The majority of councillors and officers responding to the 2003 ELG panel survey disagreed with the statement that since the new arrangements the public is more involved in decision making. Evidence on what the public think of the new system is thin on the ground still but NOP polling for NLGN suggests some positives about elected mayors, especially in terms a substantially more developed name recognition and an ability to act as a focal point for local political debate166.
3.6.3
THEME 2 PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
From the recent reports on partnership:
Strengthening community leadership and working in partnership. Most of the evidence in this area is about stakeholders, rather than individual citizens, but is included as relevant as many of those in partnerships hold a position of representing part of a public or community in some way.
Partnership is one of the most time consuming activities which executive councillors and officers undertake. Executive councillors report spending on average 7 hours per month liaising with partners and officers report a monthly average of 8 hours167. Over half of the stakeholders reported contributing to a policy plan168. There were differences reported in whether stakeholders primarily
165 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report 166 Randle, A 2004. Mayors Mid Term: Lessons from the eighteen months of directly elected mayors, London, New Local Government Network. 167 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report, ODPM Table 6 and 7) 168 ibid Table 28 111
dealt with portfolio holders or officers and in whether the local authority sought to lead local partnership activity or be participants169. Leach et al also found that the community leadership role in authorities was sometimes pursued by executive councillors or mayors and in other cases was left to officers170.
Partnership activities are the second biggest time commitment of executive members and officers. The quality of partnership activity is difficult to judge but 76% of stakeholders who expressed a view said they agreed with the statement the councils relationship with partners has improved. Nearly three quarters of LSP members also agreed with the statement the LSP is leading to more effective ways of working between partners171. Community representation can occur through area committees and through partnership working. Local authorities have the power to establish area committees, either for consultation or with delegated decision making powers. Area committees can be mechanisms for re-engaging both the public and nonexecutive members in decision making. Just over half leader and cabinet authorities had area committees. The number of area committees varied from 1 to 12. Non executive councillors do appear to be spending a significant amount of time on area working and constituency work although there is no comparable data for before the reforms172. The majority of councillors in authorities which had area committees felt that they were effective.
A second element of community representation is partnership working. The following results are from the 2004 ELG panel survey173:
Councillors, officers and stakeholders are more likely to agree than disagree with the statement that the councils relationship with partners has improved since the implementation of the new arrangements. However, there was also a large proportion of each group answering neither agree nor disagree This suggest that many do not see a connection between the new arrangements and the quality of partnership working. Evidence from the ELG survey showed that about three quarters of Local Strategic Partners (LSP) partners surveyed consider that the LSP is creating better understanding and trust among partners; more effective ways of working between them; and enhancing their capacity to learn from shared experience.
169 ibid 170 Leach, S and Copus, C. 2004 Scrutiny and the Political Party Group in UK Local Government: New Models of Behaviour Public Administration 82, 2 pp. 331-354 171 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report, ODPM Table 31 172 ibid Table 27 173 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report, ODPM 112
However only about half thought it is yet leading to more inclusive local governance; and only about one third say it is influencing the way in which their organisation works. while partners in LSPs recognise the role of government in establishing LSPs, a clear majority also link the LSP to local needs and interests. The envisioned reduction in non-executive time commitments has not occurred and this can act as a barrier to certain groups of people becoming councillors. There was not a great deal of evidence from the ELG case studies of fundamental reform of full council which would help it take on a more outward facing role. In addition we currently do not know the extent to which councils have taken a strategic view on democratic renewal as suggested by ODPM good practice. There is evidence, though, that councils are investing a great deal of time commitment in partnerships. This activity is not seen as directly related to the adoption of the new council constitutions but is linked to both previous partnership development and the creation of local strategic partnerships. Whether the reforms have contributed to democratic renewal overall depends on the extent to which the greater clarity about leadership and decision-makers is seen as a key step forward or not. On the front of public participation there is little positive to report but organised partners do appear to feel more engaged. One of the subsidiary aims of the advocates of the legislation was to create new roles for non-executive councillors so that they could give voice to interests that might have been overlooked and challenge the performance of their local authority. In these and other ways councillors outside the executive were to become the community leaders of their neighbourhoods. Although researchers found instances of the delivery of these ambitions it is clear that in our opinion and most of those associated with local government there is still a long way to go to deliver on these goals. Examples from the Good Practice Report174
There are a number of examples of partnership working, some of which are outlined here.
EXAMPLE: Area Committees in Warwickshire Area committees in Warwickshire have a range of executive powers over such matters as road traffic management, public and community transport and community development grants. They also consider half-yearly reports on areabased quality of life indicators and on performance against the targets in area business plans and community plans. A cabinet member and chief officer support each area committee. The input into decision-making comes from Members influencing cabinet decisions by giving a clear local view.
174 ODPM 2003 Strengthening Local Democracy: Making the Most of New Council Constitutions 113
EXAMPLE: Tamesides District Assemblies An individual councillor and an advisory group member in each Assembly take on a portfolio. Assembly councillors and cabinet members meet regularly to discuss the portfolio of interest, so enabling councillors in their ward role to contribute ideas to policy development. These have been increasingly used as another element in the councils comprehensive consultation strategy. With around 400 people taking part across the Borough every 7 weeks, they have been used for consultation on matters such as community safety, community legal services and local agenda 21. The high level of engagement is due in part to the success of focusing and briefing members.
EXAMPLE: Derby City Council Has linked its area panels with the overview and scrutiny function in a review of bus services. Area panels were able to discuss and provide their views on services in their area to inform the overview and scrutiny committees recommendations.
Partnership working Key good practice lessons: The design of area arrangements needs to be seen in the context of the councils overall approach to enhancing local democracy. It is better to take small steps that are successful and can be sustained than to start a major decentralisation process that has a high risk of becoming disconnected from the councils mainstream activities. Ward and divisional councillors should be supported in their area role through the provision of appropriate and accessible information on their patch, including regular updates on the plans and activities of the council and other agencies. Area forums and committees need to engage all relevant stakeholders in order to enable an effective response to community agendas that cut across organisational boundaries. Members and officers with an area role need to be able to contribute their perspective in council-wide or functional areas without this, the area dimension will not be able to realise its full potential. The availability of budgets at an area level increases the profile and impact of area arrangements. These budgets may be the councils, but may also derive from those of other agencies working on an area basis e.g. health or regeneration partnerships. Holding meetings in accessible venues at appropriate times and on matters of local interest are key ways to engage the public.
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3.6.4
THEME 3 MODELS OF LOCAL PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION-MAKING WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR?
From the baseline report on models of local participation: Authorities identified one of the principal advantages of introducing new constitutional arrangements as improved public involvement. One of the powers that non executive councillors hold under the new legislation is the power to call in executive decisions for review. There may in future be examples of public involvement in this. On case study visits concerns were expressed about the greying of local government it was not generally held that the new political management arrangements had made matters better or worse. An example from the Good Practice Report of models of local participation:
EXAMPLE: Barnsley There was a severe case of youth nuisance. A hall in the heart of the area where the nuisance was taking place was chosen as the venue for the meeting. A chief superintendent from the police force, local officers, an executive director from the housing dept, tenant enforcement officers and neighbourhood wardens were there as witnesses. Around 70 people, including 20 young people who were involved in the nuisance attended the meeting. All views were heard and a follow-up meeting held. Every person who potentially could have an impact and effect on a solution was present at the meeting. Similarly, in Tameside there has been a willingness of young people to get involved in discussions that directly affect them. 3.6.5 THEME 4 EFFECTS AND IMPACTS OF DEVOLVED DECISION-MAKING SERVICE DELIVERY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
From the baseline report on service delivery and accountability Scrutiny committees have an average membership of 12 councillors on each committee and an average of two independent members. Case study site visits suggested that dissent is still more likely to be aired through internal party meetings. The survey showed the range of activities being undertaken by scrutiny committees with 87 per cent being involved in reviewing service outcomes, 66 per cent exploring innovative forms of service delivery, a similar number (68 per cent) involving external stakeholders in their deliberations and two in five (42 per cent) investigating non-local authority service providers.
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From the recent reports, on service delivery and accountability The ELG survey in the summer of 2003 showed that in the leader cabinet authorities the majority of councillors, officers and stakeholders agreed with the statements the role of the leader has become stronger and the leader has a higher profile. These views were more marked in majority controlled councils but there was no difference of view depending upon party of control175. Overall these results suggest there is a perception that the leadership role has got stronger in leader cabinet authorities. Both the NLGN and the Northumbria research found that mayors have been successful in demonstrating community leadership skills176. (Joseph Rowntree research comments that although elected mayors see this aspect as key for some their attention has been diverted due to other new and pressing priorities such as responding to the CPA process177).
A key part of the changes, in terms of accountability, was to introduce a scrutiny function:
For most overview and scrutiny functions the majority of members and officers are unable to agree that the system in their authority had been successful. Overall both officers and members agree that there had been more success in reviewing service outcomes than in holding decision makers to account178. Despite the fact that overview and scrutiny has no power to compel decision makers to change their position, around 50% of portfolio holders report changing policy as a result of the activities of overview and scrutiny179. This suggests that power to influence is greater than many of those in the system realise.
On diversity of elected representatives:
As yet there does not appear to have been any effect on the broad make up of councils.180 Only 26 % of councillors are female, up 1% since 1999. Just over a third of councillors work, the majority of them full time. Very few councillors are under 35 years old.
175 John, P. 2004 forthcoming. Stakeholders and Officers and the New Council Constitution: Report of the ELG Sample Survey 2003, London, ODPM and www.elgnce.org.uk 176 Randle, A. 2004. Mayors Mid Term: Lessons from the eighteen months of directly elected mayors, London, New Local Government Network. and Elcock, H and Fenwick, H. forthcoming. Research on New Political Management Arrangements. Public Money and Management. 177 Leach, S and Copus, C. 2004 Scrutiny and the Political Party Group in UK Local Government: New Models of Behaviour Public Administration 82, 2 pp. 331-354 178 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report, ODPM 179 Stoker, G, Gains, F, John, P, Rao, N and Harding, A. 2004 Operating the New Council Constitutions: A Process Report, ODPM 180 Rao, N. 2004 forthcoming. Councillors and the New Council Constitution: Report of the ELG Sample Survey 2003 116
Almost all respondents were white. 92.5% of Labour councils and 90% of Conservative councils have male leaders, whilst the figure for Liberal Democrat councils is 61.2%.181 Around 23% of cabinet members are women, which is almost in line with the proportion of women councillors overall.182 Overall the new council constitutions appear to have had little effect on the make up of councils and their leadership.183 One reason for this may be that there does not appear to have been a widespread drop in the number of hours that councillors are committing to council business. Around a fifth spend less than 36 hours a month, but the mean is 82.5 hours and the mode is 60 hours. Examples from the Good Practice Report on service delivery and accountability: The evidence presented in this report consists of examples taken from early on in the new council constitutions process, and thus cant yet be taken as the steady-state resulting from the reform. The overall long term evaluation, conducted by the University of Manchester, will provide a better picture of this, but if allocating executive powers and budgets is unusual (and its not clear that it is, i.e. it seems that such arrangements did exist prior to this reform) the following might be seen as examples that may be considered for adoption across the board to ensure further devolution of decision-making.
EXAMPLE: Halton Haltons area panels enable local people to agree and fund schemes that meet specific needs but do not otherwise reflect borough-wide priorities. 600,000 has been allocated to the area panels that can be spent on any local issues they determine to be important. Some have tackled local transportation issues, for example by funding traffic calming measure that otherwise would not be implemented given borough-wide criteria and programmes. This spreads responsibility for issues and for decisions. This, and Haltons consultation programme are designed to draw a wide range of members and stakeholders into the debate and to be proactive in engaging members on the overview and scrutiny committee, ward councillors and others in the community.
181 ELG Evaluation Team 2003. Diversity and the New Council Constitutions. London ODPM and www.elgnce.org.uk 182 ibid 183 ibid 117
EXAMPLE: Barnsleys Area Forums Each area forum comprises the six or nine constituent ward councillors and there is the opportunity to co-opt up to three or four representatives from the local community. The area forums main aim is to facilitate openness, transparency and accountability in the conduct of Council business and to encourage access and participation by local people. There is considerable enthusiasm for the forums from members, staff, partners and the community. A key value identified by Members is that they can go back to their area forums and point out where they have made a difference. The authority now allocates a Community Support Fund of 10,000 to each ward to which local groups can apply for grants.
EXAMPLE: Barnsleys Scrutiny Commissions All commissions have the power to co-opt up to 11 representatives of the wider community (not just councillors). Agendas are set by the Chair, but there is a standing invitation to all commission members to put items on the agenda. This scrutiny function operates in parallel with a strong overview role. The scrutiny commissions look at specific issues in depth, typically through smaller working parties who take evidence from a range of witnesses. For example, a recent review of licensing included interviews with night-club owners, magistrates, taxi driver representatives, young people who use the town centre and the police. The commission also visited New York Council to look at its approach to the issue. The reports, which are drafted by the adviser, but in full consultation with the commission, are very readable184. They make recommendations to cabinet, and there is evidence that they do make an impact on decisions there. Recently, the Council has adopted the convention that scrutiny reports, which carry recommendations, are now presented to cabinet by the relevant scrutiny chair as a tabled document. This helps raise the profile and status of the reports and ensures they are given serious consideration in public and are not obscured by a more formal bureaucratic process.
184 Reports can be found on Barnsleys website: http://www.barnsley.gov.uk/council/scrutiny/reports.asp 118
3.7 Example 6 The importance of partnership working case study of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs)
3.7.1 BACKGROUND LOCAL STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS (LSPS)
LSP Guidance
LSPs are non-statutory bodies that according to Government guidance185 should bring together different parts of the public sector as well as the private business, community and voluntary sectors so that the different initiatives and services support each other and work together. The guidance sets out four key areas for LSP activities:
Prepare and implement a Community Strategy. Bring together local plans, partnerships and initiatives. Work with Local Authorities (LAs) in developing and implementing LPSAs. Develop and deliver a local neighbourhood renewal strategy.
The guidance suggests that voluntary organisations, community organisations and local people participate in LSPs. It terms of the objectives of this involvement. The guidance goes beyond merely stating that consultation is good and specifically mentions:
The need to facilitate greater levels of participation (implementation, self-management) at local level where this is being sought That LSPs should agree protocols to ensure that local people are involved in the design and delivery of relevant programmes, which affect their communities. Local Governance
LSPs thus play a potentially important role in the move towards greater local governance and new localism. LSPs permit the LA to take on a greater community leadership role by providing a resource to enable effective strategizing and co-ordination of multi-sectoral activities. By its non-prescriptive nature, the guidance recognises that partnerships need time to develop and to determine locally appropriate strategies and solutions. It should be noted that the guidance was issued in March 2001, that it is non-statutory guidance, and that even by Spring 2003 some LSPs were yet to form.
Involvement of Communities
In support of LSPs, the government has provided a Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) in full to kick-start the involvement of communities, community sector
185 DETR 2001 LSPs: Government guidance 119
organisations and the voluntary sector within LSPs. The fund (12 million per year for three years 2001-2004) is available to the 88 Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) districts (87 LSPs). The fund has been provided for any or all of the following activities:
Outreach work to encourage participation from citizens and especially hard-toreach groups Co-ordination and support for involvement the sector within the LSP Training Communications and two-way information flows Opportunities for the development of ideas, initiatives and contributions to the strategic planning process emanating from the community itself. Co-ordinating existing efforts
It is fair to say that the guidance on LSPs is conservative, yet realistic, in terms of the contribution that LSPs are planned to make upon New Localism. LSPs have not been set up as local democratic bodies to challenge the existing roles of elected members. Neither are they designed to empower communities in determining the plans, nor implementation of such plans, of service providers. Instead government LSP guidance can be seen to suggest that (at least in the first instance) LSPs co-ordinate the efforts of existing (public, private, voluntary and community) service providers, provide and implement a mechanism to ensure that locally agreed issues and priorities are being tackled, and bring about benefits in terms of integrating and rationalising information, activities and services. The guidance strongly suggests that the local voluntary and community sectors plus the public are involved in this process.186 3.7.2 THEME 1 THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PUBLIC
LSPs perception of community engagement187
LSPs themselves put an extremely high priority on engaging the community. For example, in 2001/02 45% of LSPs had been active in community engagement (for the most part, the reason why 55% of LSPs had not been involved in community engagement was because they were still consolidating membership and determining plans of action (a necessary prerequisite). When asked which activities LSPs were planning to undertake in 2002/03 83% mentioned community engagement, this being the highest response rate for any activity. When asked specifically about their priorities of activity (allowed to list 5 priorities), community engagement ranked second (with a 54% response rate) only developing the Community Strategy ranked higher (at 60%).
186 DETR 2001 LSPs: Government guidance 187 ODPM 2003 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of 2002 survey of all English LSPs 120
3.7.3
THEME 2 PARTNERSHIP WORKING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
LSPs are in an early stage of establishment/development188
In summer 2002 11% of all LA areas didnt have an LSP (or equivalent) in place. 58% of LSPs had started as new partnerships during 2000-2002. Although most are now in place development is still in an early stage for most. Thus one cannot realistically expect significant early progress along the continuum of consultation to participation and empowerment.
Membership of LSPs
Although public sector bodies are represented to a greater extent, studies of LSP members shows that the voluntary and community sectors are relatively well represented both in the core groups of LSP and in their sub-groups. Full data is provided in a table at the end of this section. Selected examples show that 86% of LSPs include a voluntary and community sector umbrella group representative within the core structure, and 22% include a local residents group representative. However, the extent of members varies considerably with some LSPs having no representation whilst some LSPs (such as Hastings) have a policy to have 50% of members form the voluntary or community sector. A London Study189 found that BME groups were under-represented in LSP boards/core groups.
Role of members of LSPs
Key roles within the LSP are typically undertaken by LA-related staff. For example, 81% of LSPs are chaired by either a LA officer or councillor. There are, however, exceptions with 10% chaired by the private sector and 2% chaired by representatives from the community, voluntary and faith community190.
Lack of clarity and conflict regarding the role of the voluntary and community sectors (and the public)
According to a Summer 2003 research report on London LSPs191 there is a lack of clarity amongst both LSPs and the community and voluntary sector regarding what the LSP was meant to be achieving by way of community and voluntary sector input. This ALG/GLE research report highlights the progress of communication and consultation and barely touches on LSP progress on empowering communities. One of the main recommendations of the report was that LSPs should work to better engage with BME communities. However, as the national evaluation192 illustrates, LSPs need to clearly articulate the reasons for such involvement and demonstrate effective purpose. The community engagement Action Learning set193 provides a pragmatic guide to how to go about doing this within the local context of the LSP.
188 ODPM 2003 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of 2002 survey of all English LSPs 189 ALG and GLE 2003 LSPs and neighbourhood renewal in London: the story so far... 190 ODPM 2003 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of 2002 survey of all English LSPs 191 ALG and GLE 2003 LSPs and neighbourhood renewal in London: the story so far... 192 ODPM 2003 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of 2002 survey of all English LSPs 193 ODPM 2004 Evaluation of Local Strategic Partnerships Community engagement action learning set report 121
The ALG/GLE report also highlights the discomfort of many local councillors regarding the role of voluntary and community sector organisations . The report states that Councillors see themselves as legitimate and accountable community leaders and representatives and that concerns were expressed (by councillors and public sector partners) about the extent to which community representatives represented, and could make decisions on behalf of their communities. However, it should be noted that the research did not specifically include the views of others about councillors, and the views which councillors hold of themselves may not be reflected in the perceptions of others.
Difficulties of LSPs undertaking community engagement
Although there is evidence to show that LSPs are active in undertaking community engagement, LSPs themselves recognise the difficulties in doing so effectively. When asked to list their issues and dilemmas, the most widely cited individual response (from 126 LSPs) was developing wider and successful community engagement (67%). Other responses included buy-in, ownership and commitment (51%) and accountability local democratic issues (22%). When asked which issues they would most like further support on the second most popular response was community engagement194.
Examples of LSPs structures in relation to community participation
LSPs are struggling to find a balance between being inclusive and keeping numbers manageable. Ensuring that community representation within the partnership is effective is also an issue for instance one LSP highlighted the need to establish support mechanisms for members of the community and voluntary sector to enable them to make an effective contribution. In particular, the ALG/GLE195 report highlighted that LSPs find it difficult getting representation from BME groups.
EXAMPLES: There are a wide variety of LSP structures and approaches to how LSPs both prioritise and implement community involvement. For example, in Wakefield, the LSP had given the responsibility for prioritising areas to its Social Forum which in turn delegated to the Community Empowerment Working Group the task of setting the criteria for selecting the appropriate neighbourhoods and then selecting the neighbourhoods themselves (Source Wakefield Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy (LNRS). A further example is provided by Tower Hamlets LSP (source Tower Hamlets LNRS) where the partnership comprises:
8 Local Area Partnerships: local people and organisations whose role is to identify local priorities and influence service delivery; Community Plan Action Groups are cross sectoral groups charged with delivering joined up services as set out in the Community Plan; A cross-sectoral Partnership Management Group that administers and takes an overview of the key strategic and policy decisions.
194 ODPM 2003 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of 2002 survey of all English LSPs 122 195 ALG and GLE 2003 LSPs and neighbourhood renewal in London: the story so far...
Neighbourhood Teams
EXAMPLE: developing neighbourhood level teams Some partnerships have already been developing neighbourhood level teams. Examples form a Summer 2003 study of all 87 NRF area LNRS shows that:
Ashfield has been developing multi-agency Neighbourhood Action Teams. In Wakefield, Community partnerships are bringing together stakeholders in the priority neighbourhoods to seek joined up solutions. These partnerships are supported by the Community Empowerment Network (also referred to as the Community Engagement Network (CEN)) of development workers (funded in part by NRF). Wigan is developing a Township model as a common base for service delivery, including Council, Police, and PCT with area-based partnerships of local residents, councillors and key officers plus a part-time manager. Leeds refers to close joint working through approaches such as neighbourhood management, multi-agency support teams and joint protocols.
3.7.4
THEME 3 MODELS OF LOCAL PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT IN DECISION-MAKING: WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR?
The degree to which LSPs have gone beyond consultation to forms of participation, delivery and empowerment Owing to the early developmental stage of LSPs there is limited evidence. However, early indications suggest that LSPs have not yet progressed very far from consultative forms of dialogue with communities and community advocates to more progressive methods of ownership and empowerment. There has been no comprehensive evaluation of the CEF and Community Empowerment Networks. There are descriptive accounts (as in the Croydon case study below) of the uses to which CEF have been given, however, no thorough analyses on the impact and added value of these exercises. The evidence from the case studies confirms that the complexity of LSP arrangements and working is most difficult of the voluntary and community sectors. As a consequence the most obvious tensions lie between public sector and community with widespread concern that despite the CEF support for communities and the emergence of Community Empowerment Networks in the 87 NRF areas the community presence is as yet low key in LSP discourse196
196 ODPM 2004 National Evaluation of LSPs: Case studies interim report: a baseline of practice 123
Case study Community involvement in Croydon LSP
EXAMPLE: Community involvement in Croydon LSP Croydon is widely perceived to be one of the more advanced LSPs both generally and in terms of promoting the voluntary and community sectors within its operations. The following text summarises a report (produced by Croydon LSP197) detailing the LSPs focus on community involvement. Although there hasnt been research to formally evaluate or compare Croydons approach with that of other LSPs, it is fair comment that few LSPs will have a more progressive or advanced approach198. The Croydon LSP Board comprises 15 members divided into three equal groups:
Business sector (5 members). Statutory sector (5 members). Community/voluntary sectors (5 members). These include Croydon voluntary action (umbrella group), the race equality partnership, black and minority ethnic groups, faith communities and community groups.
The Community Network was established in January 2002 to co-ordinate the input of the community and voluntary sector into Croydon LSP. Comprising around 250 community and voluntary groups the Networks selects and supports members in the work of the LSP and associated partnerships. The Network disperses CEF (community empowerment fund) for particular activities e.g. The CEF funds an outreach worker to seek out and involve hard-to-reach groups within the Network. LSP Theme partnerships The LSP comprises a number of theme-specific partnerships. Each has representation from the community/voluntary sectors (nominated by the Community Network). A Community involvement strategy group works on enhancing the role of community groups in the decision-making responsibility of the main statutory groups. There is a focus on co-ordinating and planning consultation and involvement. Community Strategy was developed with consultation with the community sector. One of the priorities within the Strategy is increasing community involvement Service management The LSP is exploring how statutory agencies can involve communities in service delivery. For example, a pilot is commencing involving community park management.
197 IDeA Knowledge 2003 Case study 7: Community involvement and the community network From a collection of 12 case studies describing progress in Croydon LSP. Available on IDeA Knowledge. 198 IDeA Knowledge 2003 Case study 7: Community involvement and the community network From a collection of 12 case studies describing progress in Croydon LSP. Available on IDeA Knowledge. 124
Community engagement mechanisms
It follows from the recognition of the importance of local communities influencing and owning Community and Neighbourhood Renewal Strategies that community engagement mechanisms are critical to success. How far partnerships are having to set up new structures and mechanisms depends considerably on what was already in place. Some, such as Lincoln, are using the LSPs own structures: community and stakeholder engagement takes place through representation on LSP and its policy forums. However, most are going beyond this and it is clear that very often they are using existing voluntary and community sector infrastructures and council-led authority wide community development/engagement structures or building on ones developed by Area Based Initiatives (ABIs). In some places neighbourhood management is being used as the foundation for community engagement. It is operational across part of Derwentside and is to be a channel for community to feed its views. Similarly in Gateshead, where Community Partnerships already exist or are being formed which would feed opinion into five Area Consultative Forums, the neighbourhood management framework will enable co-ordination of community engagement. There is a distinction between consultation and engagement/empowerment, but it is not always evident that progress is being made from one to the other199. Some strategies seem strong on consultation to ascertain priorities for the LNRS but less clear about how the community might be involved in developing neighbourhood plans (Doncaster) In Sedgefield so far, engagement seems to signify consultation rather than participation, but the CEF is being used to help support involvement through the Community Network. In Barking and Dagenham, this is addressed head on in the theme of Developing Rights and Responsibilities which sets out key priorities, targets and actions to promote and enhance community engagement, participation and capacity and to ensure all sections of the community can access and influence service provision. Excluded communities are being specifically targeted. There is often an important role for intermediate organisations/community and voluntary sector forums such as STRIDE in South Tyneside and Stockton Borough Voluntary Development Agency, and these are frequently the bodies charged with handling the Community Empowerment Fund. CEF is being used both to develop structures and networks and for training and capacity building200. The following examples are a small selection of those presented in LRGRUs 2003 LNRS assessment201
199 ODPM 2004 Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategies: Document Analysis and Review Summary Report 200 ODPM 2004 Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategies: Document Analysis and Review Summary Report 201 ODPM 2004 Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategies: Document Analysis and Review Summary Report 125
EXAMPLE: South Tyneside The structure of South Tynesides strategy document could be seen to encourage engagement by its inclusion of appendices on useful websites and a glossary of terms and acronyms. The LNRS stresses the importance of engaging residents and lists positive things already happening:
CEF resource to voluntary sector. STRIDE (South Tyneside Resource for Initiating Development of the Economy) Area Forums contributing to identification of priorities. Groundwork actively engaging residents through Planning for Real exercises, etc. Councils Tenant Compact and Tenant Involvement Strategy Council working with residents on Cleadon Park Estate to develop regeneration proposal. Priorities under the Inclusion theme include helping people to get involved: 1. developing mechanisms which allow service providers and local communities to work together to make services more responsive to local needs; 2. working to ensure deprived communities can benefit from e-government developments.
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EXAMPLE: Hartlepool Hartlepools Strengthening Communities priority includes:
investigating barriers to engagement; developing and supporting residents associations; encouraging services providers to value and respond to residents views and aspirations; providing community development and capacity building support including targeted support for hard to reach and special needs groups; supporting groups to link together at neighbourhood level; developing networks and structures from the neighbourhood level to feed into strategic partnerships/policy makers; recognising specific needs & develop outreach activity for hard to reach and special needs groups; ensuring effective two way communication and access to information through networks; considering voluntary/community sector as a service provider; providing and developing long term support including finance, infrastructure, premises, management and skills development; building on good practice; developing skills, knowledge and infrastructure around e-government.
EXAMPLE: Rochdale Rochdale are piggybacking on a range of community engagement mechanisms across partner organisations:
Council as part of modernisation programme is undertaking programme of consultation across the Borough, including consultation on Council services as part of BV process; establishment of a Citizens Panel; consultation with young people as part of Connexions and the Childrens Fund; consultation on new democratic structures and community conferences for the LSP. Councils establishment of 4 Townships in 1994 provided vital path for local people into decision making. Tenant Participation Unit commended as exemplary in tenant involvement in decision making and management. Range of public involvement forums across Borough including ward forums, community forums for regeneration, local crime and safety partnerships, etc. PCT has a public involvement worker. Learning Partnership has consulted people. Racial Equality Council, CVS and Tenants and Residents Organisation have established a Community Consortium.
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Engagement mechanisms for other stakeholders
LSPs have a range of mechanisms for specific groups of stakeholders. Again they often reflect existing structures whether within the LSP or independently in the area. Leeds LNRS recognises the need for different communication mechanisms and media to take account of different audiences and with specific measures to reach communities defined by age, faith or ethnicity. Stockton puts considerable focus on bringing together representatives of a range of services within different thematic areas in focus groups.
EXAMPLE: Southwark Southwark is notable for its range of forums and engagement mechanisms:
a Strategic Ethnic Alliance that aims to bring together and support BME voluntary and community sector organisations; engagement with business through Chambers, the Traders Association, Bankside Business Partnership, South Bank Employers, Southwark Cares, BitC, Southwark Business Alliance; Youth Council that seeks to inform Southwark Alliance (LSP) of the views of young people; Anti-Homophobic Forum which addresses homophobic incidents; Disabilities Forum through which people with disabilities can engage with mainstream service providers about how services can be improved to meet their needs; Pensioners Forum through which older people can engage with mainstream service providers about how services can be improved to meet their needs; engagement with faith groups through borough Deans, African-Caribbean Evangelical Alliance and Southwark Moslem Forum.
Black and Minority Ethnic groups (BME)
In some areas, particular attention is being focused upon BME groups
Kirklees singles out BME groups for particular attention although using similar engagement mechanisms as for other groups. Sheffield focus on drawing BME groups into the neighbourhood renewal process. A Black Community Forum is a strategic project to ensure the effective participation and engagement of Black communities and organisations in sustainable regeneration. Middlesbrough is to develop capacity in BME communities through a Network Inclusion Project. Ashfield is taking advice from the CRE and others about engaging with BME groups.
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In Bolton, the LSP is examining Home Office Community Cohesion guidelines in relation to the Local Neighbourhood Renewal Scheme (LNRS) and other partnerships to look at how their work is relevant to and taken up by hard to reach groups. Westminster has a BME Forum. In Ealing, a BME and Refugee (BMER) Fund was established to ensure that those communities had ring fenced resources to support their involvement. An action plan had been produced to build capacity for BME and refugee organisations to access Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF). Wakefield has given NRF to the Asian community to develop and implement an Asian Strategy and for modernisation work for the NHS to improve services at neighbourhood level. It also has a project to support communities of interest including BME communities.
EXAMPLE: Redcar and Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland put a lot of emphasis on community cohesion aiming to:
get all partners to sign up to Zero Tolerance of racism and discrimination; devise a Communication Strategy to convey the message; get a commitment from each partner to carry out actions for their organisation and services; encourage all sections of the community to nominate community leaders to participate in the process; build cross cultural networks.
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EXAMPLE: Pendle Pendle used NRF to fund a Partnership Diversity Officer to work across agencies in the Borough to:
address the need for key statutory agencies to more effectively reflect their communities in relation to their workforces; address the need for effective consultation structures in relation to disadvantaged communities; address the need for the Local Strategic Partnership to take a lead in promoting diversity and addressing deprivation; strengthen consultation channels with the Boroughs ethnic minority community; ensure that the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy and the Community Strategy effectively take on board the need to promote diversity; advise agencies to enable them to fulfil their duties under the Race Relations Amendment Act; develop citizen and leadership programmes that bridge communities; help agencies undertake diversity audits; develop initiatives that promote community cohesion; explore the possibility of creating an inter-agency district equality and fair treatment initiative; help agencies in the Borough think about how they can respond to the challenges posed by the inquiries into the disturbances of summer 2001.
Young people
Young people represent another group singled out for special focus in engagement. This very often ties in with the priority they are given in the LNRS itself. Examples include:
Middlesbrough: Youth Parliament and citizenship programmes. A Youth Council is being formed in Hyndburn to provide a voice for them. As young people are a priority focus in Sunderland, they are to be targeted with a tailored raft of actions, but in the draft strategy these had to be refined and converted into deliverable programmes. Enfield is to develop a Youth Parliament. Greenwich is developing Youth and Schools Councils.
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3.7.5
THEME 4 EFFECTS AND IMPACTS OF DEVOLVED DECISION-MAKING: SERVICE DELIVERY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Benefits of LSPs It is far too early to evaluate the impact and added value of LSPs (though plans are in place and baseline data collected). However, there are the beginnings of a trickle of evidence highlighting benefits. This includes: 63% of LSPs said that there were tangible benefits emerging in terms of objective setting and joint working. 38% highlighted progress in understanding the agendas of other partners and in identifying common issues. 28% highlighted the achievements of networking relationship building and involvement.202 From assimilating the evidence, it is clear that LSPs are moving towards a new form of governance (if not new localism). There is clear progress in terms of: Co-ordination and strategizing of planning. Wider public consultation regarding plans and activities. Enhancing opportunities for involving advocates of the public (e.g. voluntary sector, community sector, business sector, councillor, faith sector etc) within the strategic decision making processes of larger corporate and public sector bodies activities. However, there is less evidence of communities being involved in or being empowered by LSPs. Indeed this has not been a focus of most LSPs. Usually (as illustrated by local neighbourhood renewal strategies) public engagement and participation (as opposed to consultation) has been more targeted at smaller localised communities with the LSP area. Anecdotally there is evidence that smaller level LSPs have had more success in involving communities within their processes. This may simply be a consequence of the size of the LSP. In East Sussex, for example, district LSPs have been able to concentrate on a sense of place and identity and have thus been able to focus on engaging the public in issues that are local to their areas. The County however, is less well placed to solicit community participation in issues that affect such a large geographic coverage. Involvement in service delivery LSPs do not appear to have made significant progress in this area. Worryingly in a study of all London LSPs interviewees commonly did not appear to even acknowledge that voluntary sector organisations were service providers203.
202 ODPM 2003 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of 2002 survey of all English LSPs 203 ALG and GLE 2003 LSPs and neighbourhood renewal in London: the story so far... 131
LSPs have only just begun to co-ordinate the involvement of communities within service delivery. There is currently little evidence of how effective this is. An example is Croydon LSP who are currently piloting community management of parks204. Conclusions about service delivery and accountability in terms of LSPs Government policy on LSPs is that of broadening the democratic base of service providers at the local authority size level. Emphasis is given to both public, private, voluntary and community sector service providers. However, this broadening doesnt go as far as to suggest public empowerment nor, in practice, does it extend to significant public participation. LSP policy, and in general practice, has enhanced the degree of consultation with both advocates of the community and members of the community itself. By working together and setting out overarching strategies and plans (which are widely publicly disseminated) LSPs are creating a more open and transparent form of local democracy and broadening the opportunities for individuals to become involved. Owing to the (predominantly LA) geographic extent of LSPs, it is a tall order to expect communities to become actively engaged in strategic and co-ordinatory processes, across areas where people find it difficult to relate in terms of identity and place, though smaller district LSPs are better placed in this role. NRF funds have yet to be fully evaluated, yet early indications suggest that engaging and empowering communities is easier in small neighbourhoods than across the LSP at large. For the most part LSPs have focused on supplementing traditional community representatives (i.e. MPs and local councillors) with further representatives (i.e. residents groups, faith representatives, voluntary sector, BME representatives) to try and solicit greater accountability and transparency. Though there has clearly been progress, there is scope for greater equity/involvement of these organisations in key decisions and a need to rationalise the efforts of a sometimes time and resource strained sector.
204 IDeA Knowledge 2003 Case Study 7: Community involvement and the community network From a collection of 12 case studies describing progress in Croydon LSP. Available on IDeA Knowledge. 132
Organisations included within LSPs205

Other members or unspecified
Core members % Number of LSPs of LSPs
All members
Mean Number % Mean Number % number of LSPs of LSPs number of LSPs of LSPs of of members members 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 0 1 1 2 1 3 93 80 80 78 69 71 68 54 52 51 33 45 23 37 21 9 15 6 2 1 62 56 50 26 10 9 4 77 57 57 13 12 45 36 33 18 15 124 75% 65% 65% 63% 56% 57% 55% 44% 42% 41% 27% 36% 19% 30% 17% 7% 12% 5% 2% 1% 50% 45% 40% 21% 8% 7% 3% 62% 46% 46% 10% 10% 36% 29% 27% 15% 12% 100% 11 2 2 2 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 4 1 2 1 17 2 1 1 1 1 2 5 2 2 5 1 2 7 2 2 1 2 2 5 1 91 194 187 186 144 141 118 115 88 86 67 60 59 33 56 35 31 25 9 6 2 133 109 85 38 26 12 6 180 100 90 82 80 75 73 63 31 26 194 100% 96% 96% 74% 73% 61% 59% 45% 44% 35% 31% 30% 17% 29% 18% 16% 13% 5% 3% 1% 69% 56% 44% 20% 13% 6% 3% 93% 52% 46% 42% 41% 39% 38% 32% 16% 13% 100%
Public sector Local authorities 148 Police Force or Police Authority 138 Primary Care Trust/ Group 138 Higher/further education institutions 87 Learning & Skills Council 81 Regional Government Office 56 Employment Service/Benefits Agency 55 Other Partnerships 40 Regional Development Agency 40 ConneXions 19 Strategic Health Authority 30 Other health sector 21 Probation Service 11 Environment Agency 23 Fire Service 15 Other/ Unspecified 22 Primary and Secondary Schools 12 Small Business Services 6 Housing Corporation 4 Armed forces 2 Private Sector Chamber of Commerce 84 58 Other business umbrella group Individual businesses 45 Transport Operators 14 Other partnerships 17 Other/unspecified 4 Unions 2 Voluntary and community sectors Umbrella group 128 58 Individual organisation 42 Faith Organisations Other Partnerships 74 Children and Young Peoples 0 Groups Housing Association/ RSLs 40 BME representative organisations 44 33 Residents Groups Environmental Groups 14 Other/unspecified 16 Total responses 148
100% 93% 93% 59% 55% 38% 37% 27% 27% 13% 20% 14% 7% 16% 10% 15% 8% 4% 3% 1% 57% 39% 30% 9% 11% 3% 1% 86% 39% 28% 50% 0% 27% 30% 22% 9% 11% 100%
Notes 1. Mean column refers to the average number of members (i.e. people) per LSP from each organisation 2. All members does not equal the total of core members and other members as some LSPs have both types of member from some organisations but are only counted once in the third column
205 National Evaluation of LSPs: Report of a survey of all English LSPs, ODPM (LRGRU), February 2003 133
CHAPTER 4

KEY FINDINGS: The review has examined some of the available research evidence on international examples. It is clear that trying to find ways of effectively devolving service delivery to local people is something which is being addressed in European countries and also world-wide. The case studies looked at illustrate the following points:
Community Planning Partnerships. It is important that mechanisms used are truly representative of the community and not just communities of interest or geographical areas of interest. Inclusiveness. New localism needs to ensure that it is both participatory and fully inclusive. Particular attention needs to be paid to social exclusion and equality and diversity issues. Organisational frameworks. Whilst there is a need to avoid excessive bureaucracy some case studies show that new localism type initiatives require new organisational frameworks. This could include for example a new local authority department to co-ordinate the initiative and encourage joined up authority working. Working relationships and new community networks. New localism initiatives require new working relationships to be built between the community and the authority as well as within the community. Education, training and consultancy. Authorities that have offered education and training to community organisations and citizens as well as providing consultancy in strategic development are more effective.
4.1 Introduction
This section of the report presents a range of evidence from other areas of the United Kingdom Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as a selection of international examples. Not surprisingly, issues around participation of communities in decision making and choices around service delivery is a theme which is being addressed worldwide. What is presented here is by no means a comprehensive account (for example, there is only limited reference to the USA) and this is an area for potential further research and investigation.
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4.2 Evidence and background from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
4.2.1 SCOTLAND The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 This Act covers the legislative proposals from the McIntosh Report on the work of community planning pathfinders and the wider Scottish Executive modernisation agenda. The overall aim of the act is to provide a framework for better, more responsive public services, giving councils more responsibility to act in the best interests of their community. Three core elements to the Act:
power for local authorities to advance the well-being of their area and/or persons in it; statutory underpinning for Community Planning through the introduction of a duty on local authorities and key partners; a duty of Best Value.
Community and voluntary sector engagement in community planning The Scottish Executive has, following extensive consultation, published statutory guidance on the community planning provisions in the Local government in Scotland Act 2003. The guidance is supplemented by more detailed advice notes on various topics, which was suggested during consultation. Customer and Citizen Focused Service Delivery Research206 Delivery of customer and citizen focused services is at the heart of the Executives better public services agenda. This research was carried out to identify a baseline of service providers current practice in seeking and using customer feedback. Key Findings:
Public sector organisations use a wide range of reactive and proactive techniques for collecting and analysing feedback from customers. The most commonly used method for getting feedback from customers is the recording and analysis of complaints with over 85% of respondents saying they had used this method during the last two years. Customers are being offered the opportunity to provide feedback using a variety of channels and there are well developed procedures for handling this feedback. Public sector organisations are less likely to analyse feedback from customers to monitor trends or identify potential service improvements than to respond to individual cases.
206 Robert Stevenson, RDS Consultancy Services & Peter Gibson, Customer Management Consultancy 2002 Customer and Citizen Focused Public Service Provision The Scottish Executive Central Research Unit 135
The research suggests that surveys targeted upon people with recent experience of using a particular service are more likely to provide information that can be used to inform decision making. However, a relatively small proportion of customer surveys are targeted on frequent or recent service users. Clarity is needed about who feedback is being sought from customers and citizens are two very different groups and the effectiveness of feedback will increase where mechanisms are clearly thought out and targeted to the right groups.
Performance sub-committees and Customer Services Office in East Renfrewshire, Scotland207 EXAMPLE: East Renfrewshire, Scotland East Renfrewshire Council, on the outskirts of Greater Glasgow, has established a series of formal performance management sub-committees involving citizen representatives to scrutinise the performance of services, through monitoring of statutory and local performance indicators, customer complaints and service plan monitoring reports. These performance sub-committees have been operating since 1998 and have been successful in involving public representatives in scrutinising and monitoring performance across the council. To initiate the process, an advertisement was placed in local newspapers, inviting interested members of the public to apply for a recruitment pack. It attracted over 40 applicants, with a good gender balance and some representation of ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. Every effort was made to match people to the relevant performance sub-committee with reference to interests expressed in the application form. This resulted in about six representatives from the general public being appointed to each of the seven sub-committees, which deal with education, community and leisure, commercial operations, housing, environment, social work, policy and resources and general purposes. Representatives attended an induction session, including an introduction by the Chief Executive to the work of the council and the councils role in implementing best value. The relevant departmental lead officers, who provide explanations of the performance information presented, attend sub-committee meetings, chaired by an elected representative. Staff also attend meetings from the chief executives department to support their scrutiny role. They take place on a six-weekly cycle, meeting in the evening. A related initiative is the establishment of a dedicated customer services office within the council that can act as the point of contact for all citizens inquiries. Customer Services are a team of 14 members of staff, including Service Manager, Contact Centre Manager, Service Centre Manager, Development Officer and 10 Customer Service Officers, who are available to deal with enquiries which include, amongst others, Council Tax, Special Uplifts, Planning and Building Control. A Service Centre within Councils Headquarters has been developed where Customer Service Officers are available between the hours of 8am to 6pm, to deal with any enquiries or requests for services in connection with council departments.
207 Demos Project in Better Local Government http://www.demosproject.org/webpages/partners.php 136
4.2.2
NORTHERN IRELAND Elections208 to Northern Irelands assembly and local government use the single transferable vote system (STV). Of the 108 MLAs elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, only 13 per cent are women (CAWP, 2001), well below percentages for Scotland, Wales. In the 2001 local elections a record number of women were successful: nineteen per cent of councillors in Northern Ireland are women. The failure of women to make a significant breakthrough as in Scotland and Wales is difficult to explain, given the use of PR. Recent findings from the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey indicate that 64% of respondents thought that more women should be elected to local government. The most common reasons given for lack of womens involvement in politics by respondents were because its a mans world and family commitments. This echoes earlier research findings which indicated that women councillors in Northern Ireland cited family reasons for the under-representation of women .
4.2.3
EVIDENCE ABOUT WOMEN MEMBERS IN SCOTLAND AND WALES Both the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales have high levels of women members. Numbers of women in each increased at the last set of elections in 2003. Indeed, since the 2003 elections the Welsh Assembly now has the highest representation of women at fifty per cent. In Scotland, forty per cent of MSPs are women. The reasons for this are two fold: the use of the additional member system (AMS) in addition to first past the post elections; the use of constituency twinning by the Labour party whereby each neighbouring constituency associations each nominated one woman and one man as candidates. In contrast, the level of representation of women in local government is not much different from England: 19% in Wales209 and 22% in Scotland210.
4.3 International examples and case studies

4.3.1 INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES A number of research case studies from around the world are outlined in this section, largely taken from the Demos Project in Better Local Government and, in particular, their paper of Good Practice in Local Governance.211 Case studies are selected on the basis that they provide substantial evidence of citizens having control over resource allocations and budgets as well as having a general participatory involvement in local government. The DEMOS Project employs a wider set of criteria in including case studies and examples as it is addressing a wider policy context than new localism.
208 Wilford, R., Miller, R., Bell, Y. and Donoghue, F. 1993 In their own voices: women councillors in Northern Ireland Public Administration 71 (Autumn), 341-355. 209 Employers Organisation 2002 Census of Local authority Councillors: comparisons 1997-2000 210 SLGIU 1999 Scottish Local Councillors Survey, SLGIU: Edinburgh. 211 Further information and contact details on this project can be found at http://www.demosproject.org/webpages/partners.php 137
The project is considered in relation to the themes:
Decentralised decision making. Better local decision making. Revitalised local democracy. Civil and community renewal. Youth engagement and participation.
Finally, there is a summary of a forthcoming study on Citizen involvement with neighbourhood renewal, from an international perspective. 4.3.2 OUTLINE OF THE DEMOS PROJECT Demos is a European Commission funded project which links eight city councils in seven countries and partner organisations across Europe in innovation and action research on citizen participation in local government. Demos began in February 2002 and held a final conference in Edinburgh, June 2004. The project has also conducted research on local government across the world. The projects local government partners are fostering and monitoring a wide variety of innovative approaches to citizen participation including:
decentralised, area-based initiatives; web-based linkages between citizens; community organisations; and elected representatives and officers in government.
Each city or municipality has used an innovation fund to develop a number of initiatives. Academic partners monitored and provided feedback during the project, working in an action research mode, and provide a formal evaluation at the projects conclusion. 4.3.3 EVIDENCE ON SOME KEY THEMES Decentralised decision making An important criteria for New Localism is that effective decision making can be devolved to localities. The local authority will often be the key organisation involved in devolving such decision making and in this section it is assessed how this can be achieved with reference to the international evidence base. In an example of this, in the early 1990s the city of Deventer (population 86,000) in the Netherlands embarked on the Deventer wijkaanpak (the Deventer neighbourhood approach) in order to address a growing range of social, economic and physical problems and to bridge the gap between residents and the city administration (see Case Study 1). This approach involved dividing the city into six districts and developing a partnership approach between the district managers and
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council departments and the residents and representatives of local community organisations. This partnership managed a devolved budget and was involved in a three step annual cycle of decision making processes. This involved a consultation stage followed by an assessment and planning stage and then finally a policy implementation stage. This example demonstrates how a key issue in decentralising decision making is often is often the need to build a partnership approach. This partnership approach should involve establishing joining up decision making processes between the local authority leaders and their staff and departments and could involve setting up a neighbourhood or community department that can co-ordinate this organisational framework. This approach was not specifically addressed by Deventer but was in other initiatives (e.g. Hampton, Virginia see Case Study 4). This partnership approach could then be extended to residents and community organisations. The Deventer approach was claimed to be a success by the DEMOS Project as it stated that decentralisation is now fully institutionalised in local governance processes. Also the approach was said to be successful as it had build up working relationships between the administration and community representatives and residents and had dramatically increased the number of residents active in the governance processes as well as the networking between residents and community organisations. Better local decision making A key objective of new localism is that decision making is made more effective by devolving it to the local level where possible. It is difficult to define when decision making can be deemed to be more effective but it is possible to assess whether the decision making process has been more inclusive and participatory with regard to the local population that will be affected. The city of Freiburg in Germany provides an example of how a planning and development process for the building of a new suburb was characterised by a comprehensive ecological approach, a co-operative planning process and intensive citizen participation (see Case Study 2). In this approach a new community organisation called Forum Vauban has seats on the official city council development committee. Citizen participation led to an action learning initiative called Learning while Planning which was designed to build a relationship between the residents and developers through meetings, exhibitions and publications. The residents were therefore able to have an ongoing input into any changes in the development plans. There were special participatory workshops dealing with the design of residential streets and public green spaces and a specific effort was taken to include more young and old people in this part of the process. This example demonstrates how better local decision making needs to be both inclusive and participatory. A key objective for new localism should be to try and seek the participation of parts of the population who may be more at risk of social exclusion and may feel less engaged with decision making and political processes generally. The example of Freiburg demonstrates how citizens can be given genuine power and input into decision making through being given seats on the council development committee. Also this example demonstrates how new localism can make development proposals more sustainable and sensitive to ecological concerns. The development plan included compulsory low energy standard for new building, a tram connection by a set date and a water management scheme.
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A higher level of citizen participation and partnerships between residents and developers should lead to developments that are more sustainable and ecologically friendly as this will be clearly in the interests of the local community. Revitalised local democracy A key objective for new localism is to increase the turnout at local and general elections and to generally increase the engagement of the population in the democratic process. It has been argued that if citizens feel that they have more of an input into the decision making processes in local and central government then apathy towards democratic institutions will be reduced. In the city of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil a system of participatory district budgeting introduced in 1989 has revitalised local democracy by significantly increasing the input of residents to the make up of municipal budgets in each of the sixteen administrative districts of the city (see Case Study 3). The DEMOS Project stated in an academic review that; innumerable small scale improvements but also some large scale state interventions have already been decided in the context of participatory budgeting ... the people have real power in their hands, while the state to a large extent plays the role of a co-ordinator This example does not demonstrate that increased citizen participation has directly had an effect on turnout rates at local or general elections, though it does provide evidence of a revitalised local democracy. There is one citizen representative for every ten residents who meet to elect delegates on a proportional representation basis. The municipality authorities also present an investment plan at this first of two key meetings in the process (called rodadas). The elected delegates then organise a series of informal meetings to discuss local needs compared to the resources that may be secured. The delegates then attend a second key meeting with the Municipality and other key groups and this forms a Council for Participatory Budgeting (COP). The COP has the power to allocate between 10-20% of the overall municipal budget which involve flexible expenditure or new flows of funds into the local authority, for example, for urban regeneration and economic development (DEMOS). This oft-quoted example demonstrates a specific initiative, which can provide citizens with a say in the spending of municipal budgets. The revitalisation of local democracy is one of the most challenging objectives which new localism faces and arguably it is the most affected by the wider regional or national contexts (e.g. technological changes to voting methods). Equally though it could be argued that attempts to improve citizen participation in a democratic state need to start at a local level. All the key objectives of new localism, which are discussed here, are strongly interlinked and this is particularly the case for local democracy. Therefore all the case studies discussed here may be able to provide evidence for initiatives which can revitalise democracy at the local level. Civil and community renewal The city of Hampton in Virginia, USA embarked on a Neighbourhood Initiative in 1994 with the aim of bringing all the of the resources of the community together in a partnership relationship for the development of all of the neighbourhoods in the city (see Case Study 4). The city council set up the following organisational
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framework to address their objectives on key issues such as the local economy, crime, civic involvement, and educational opportunities: A Neighbourhood Commission. A 21 member body appointed by the council with representatives from businesses, non-profit organisations, schools and other key groups. The Commission provides the leadership and policy guidance to the Neighbourhood Initiative A Neighbourhood Office. A new City Council department with staff acting as consultants and provide strategic guidance to community workers and organisations A Neighbourhood Task Force. A group of City Council department heads deals with relationship between the city council and the community workers and organisations, specifically over the issue of resource allocations Neighbourhood College. Regarded as one of the key successes of the scheme, this provides training on key skills for community workers with participants graduating from a annual core programme with additional training available for neighbourhood improvement activities. The Hampton initiative aimed to link citizens to local government in a common development agenda (DEMOS) so it provides a good example of new localism being used to further civil and community renewal. A key success of the initiative was in developing a new city council department (the Neighbourhood Office) which could provide consultancy and strategic direction in assisting community workers. Also the neighbourhood college provides community workers with the potential to specifically develop their leadership and organisational skills. The Neighbourhood Initiative was connected to a long-term development plan called the Hampton Strategic Plan and whilst it could be argued that the city administration retained a large amount of control in the organisational framework mentioned above, the initiative did provide education, training and consultancy which could empower and engage community workers. There appears to be a lack of effort in engaging residents who are not already involved in community organisations and this is a key problem for developing a strategy in new localism. The empowering of community organisation and workers with new skills and decision making responsibilities may have the effect of attracting a greater input from residents in to community organisations and increased networking at the community level generally. Youth engagement and participation European Union surveys have shown that only about half as many young people compared to adults said that they thought politics is important. Young people and children comprise approximately a third of the United Kingdom population and they are amongst the heaviest users of public services (e.g. schools, public transport, and leisure facilities as well as public places). There is a concern that the democratic deficit amongst young voters will have a particularly forceful and long-term impact as they are tomorrows voters. The Voice of Youth in Helsinki campaign is a joint strategy by Helsinki City Education Department and Helsinki City Youth Department which has the objective of increasing youth participation by giving young people access to projects with
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their control over the project resources. (see Case Study 5). The project aims to reach 50,000 of the 7 to 18 age target group by 2005. Young people are given participation arenas at the three levels of the school, district and the city that involve activities such as forums between youth and council leaders and projects on sustainable development. The Helsinki project appears to have been very successful as it addresses the issues of low youth engagement by providing participatory activities and projects with a level of responsibility for resources as well as opportunities to gain experience of local authority decision making processes. 4.3.4 CASE STUDIES FROM THE DEMOS PROJECT The case studies which follow are: Decentralised Neighbourhood Governance In Deventer, The Netherlands. Citizen Participation In Master Planning A New Ecological Live/Work District In Freiburg, Germany Participatory District Budgeting In Porto Alegre, Brazil. City-Wide Neighbourhood Governance And Neighbourhood College Initiative In Hampton, Virginia, USA. Involvement Of Children And Teenagers In The Governance Of Helsinki, Finland.
Case Study 1 Decentralised Neighbourhood Governance in Deventer, The Netherlands Deventer is a city in the east of the Netherlands, lying in the province Overijssel. It is known for its historical centre and architecture, trade and industry and its art and cultural heritage. Recently, the population of Deventer grew substantially because of a revision of the borders of neighbouring municipalities. In January 2002 Deventer has a population of 86,084 inhabitants with 21% from a foreign background, of which 14% belong to ethnic minorities. Unemployment stands at around five per cent, concentrated in this foreign-born population. Decentralised neighbourhood governance was developed in Deventer in the early 1990s, in reaction to a growing range of social, physical and economic problems in deprived districts including criminality, unemployment and a lack of social integration between long-standing residents and a fast growing foreign-born population. But there was also perceived to exist a big gap between inhabitants and local government. The Deventer wijkaanpak (the Deventer neighbourhood approach) was intended to address these problems and bridge the gap between residents and the city administration. For decentralised governance, Deventer has been divided into six districts. The district governance framework involves a partnership approach among: district alderman, district civil servant (district manager), district engineer, and a team of residents and representatives of local community organisations. They manage a devolved budget and all public spaces within the District.
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Three steps can be distinguished in the Deventer neighbourhood approach, repeated on an annual cycle: September November: The panel period and platform for discussion. Residents are asked for their opinion on the quality of their neighbourhood and public space in different ways e.g. by internet, neighbourhood parties, interviews etc. They are not only asked to explain their ideas and wishes, but also to think about solutions and ways to contribute. A neutral social welfare organisation organises this. November January: A period of establishing policy and expenditure priorities in public deliberation. Here the conclusions of the first step are evaluated in terms of their contribution to neighbourhood requirements. Options are split between quick, executable options and those executable only in the long term by the district manager and district engineer who also direct options to the right institution or department of local government for advice on the best means of implementation. Options which cant be directly implemented are discussed in community meetings to establish a second list of priorities, which includes assessment of the practicality of implementation. The result of this process is a district covenant or forward annual development plan in which all the agreed measures are entered. This covenant will be adjusted every year. January September: The implementation period. Community task forces develop options and proposals into executable plans including assessment of the role of residents in implementation. The aim of the decentralised approach to governance is not just to deliver services that accord closely with resident aspirations but also to foster positive working relationships between residents and community organisations on the one hand, and between residents and institutional stakeholders including not just local government but social welfare organisations in civil society. A future priority is to improve the relationship between the two key district civil servants, who are described as the engine of decentralisation and other professionals in departments in the central administration. The significant achievements of the Deventer approach are threefold. First, decentralisation is now fully institutionalised in local governance processes there is widespread commitment to its successful achievement. Second, residents, local government officers, all stakeholders in the annual covenant, and the citys district aldermen are all now not only on speaking terms but share a common agenda for district development. Finally, the decentralisation approach has triggered an enormous rise in the number of residents active in governance processes, and in the networking among residents and community organisations. Case Study 2 Citizen Participation in Master Planning a New Ecological Live/Work District in Freiburg, Germany On the site of a former French army base, the city of Freiburg is developing a new suburb for 5,000 residents and including locations for 600 jobs. The project, to be completed by the year 2006, is characterised by a comprehensive ecological approach, a co-operative planning process and intensive citizen participation.
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As owner of the Vauban area, City of Freiburg can take full control of its planning and development. From the onset, the city aimed at strong social and ecological programme for the new neighbourhood including in the development plan:
a compulsory low energy consumption standard for new buildings; a tram connection by the year 2006; a water management scheme emphasising high rates of infiltration of rainwater into the ground, rather than as run-off; a social balance of residents; and a balanced allocation of development sites to private builders and co-operative organisations.
A key aspect of the development strategy is an intense process of citizen participation. This has led in turn to many suggestions by intended future residents for enhanced ecological and social objectives including:
car-free residential areas; low energy and passive energy homes; use of ecologically-sound building materials; more co-operative building projects; and provision of a neighbourhood centre.
Rather than a fixed master plan, which would fall out of date as development unfolded, a principle of action learning called Learning while Planning was adopted to allow flexibility in reacting to development proposals. This allowed an extended citizen participation process that went far beyond legal requirements and enabled citizens to participate in planning over the entire development period. One aspect of this commitment is that a new community organisation called Forum Vauban has seats on the Citys official Vauban Development Committee, with officers of the administration and Council members. Forum Vauban has been particularly successful in convincing developers to become committed to an ecological approach. Their goal has been to go even beyond ecological standards laid down in the development plan and the contracts of purchase. To work with developers in terms relevant to their approach, Forum Vauban developed consultation process covering a diversity of topics relevant in ecological and social building. Private building owners and Baugruppen (groups of future builders) as well as development companies were informed about these through meetings, exhibitions and publications. Extended citizen participation also enabled young and old persons to participate in planning, both making important contributions. In workshops discussing topics such as traffic, energy, or the needs of women, options were worked out and later presented to the official planners and integrated into the plans to a large degree.
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There were special participatory workshops dealing with the design of residential streets and public green spaces. Intensive participation did require a substantial increase in workload on the part of officers of the City of Freiburg. However, the Citys view is that this cost has been more than outweighed by the gains made in transparency and pre-acceptance of development proposals by all stakeholders including residents and property developers, an unusual but very positive situation. One outcome is that residents are likely to be motivated to take responsibility for their own district and be more involved in its politics. Case Study 3 Participatory District Budgeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil Porto Alegre is the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazils southernmost state. Participatory budgeting was introduced in 1989 after a new Mayor was elected from the Partido dos Trabalhadores. Although participatory budgeting was part of an election strategy, the mechanism of broad participation has been refined steadily since. Participatory budgeting essentially consists of a series of meetings between March and July each year. During this period the Municipality (the Prefeitura) co-ordinates two major meetings (called rodadas) in each of the sixteen administrative areas into which the city has been divided. During the first rodada the municipality accounts for its policy, action and expenditure during the previous year and submits to the area residents and elected citizens representatives its investment plan for the coming year. It is in the first rodada that the residents of each area elect their citizen representatives to a Forum of Area Delegates, proportionally to the number of residents that attend the rodada at a ratio of one representative for every ten citizens. The same system of proportional representation is used to elect delegates to a parallel series of six thematic plenary sessions for key development issues for the city and areas. After the first rodada, the elected delegates then organise a series of informal meetings in their community (rodadas intermediaries) to discuss local needs compared to resources that may be secured. They also determine their expenditure priorities between education, housing, sanitation and so on. Following this round of meetings is the second rodada. For this meeting between delegates and Municipality, a Council for Participatory Budgeting (COP) is established comprising two area delegates, two thematic delegates, a representative of the civil servants trade union, a representative of the Porto Alegre Federation of Neighbourhoods and two representatives of the city council. This body then has formal responsibility for finalising the budget for the coming fiscal year. Although clearly there are continuing budget and service obligations on a year to year basis, the COP has particular latitude to establish priorities for, and allocate, around 10 to 20% of municipal budgets which involve flexible expenditure or new flows of funds into the local authority, for example, for urban regeneration and economic development. An academic reviewer comments that: innumerable small-scale improvements but also some large-scale state interventions have already been decided in the context of participatory budgeting...the people
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have real power in their hands, while the state to a large extent plays the role of a co-ordinator. Case Study 4 City-Wide Neighbourhood Governance and Neighbourhood College Initiative in Hampton, Virginia, USA Hampton is a port city on the coast of Virginia. The Hampton Neighbourhood Initiative was initiated by its City Council in 1994, in the context of its long-range development plan, called the Hampton Strategic Plan. The mission of the neighbourhood initiative is to bring all of the resources of the community together in a partnership relationship for the development of all of the neighbourhoods in the city. People, skills, knowledge, and physical places of importance are all said to be key resources that neighbourhoods need to succeed. The following guiding principles were identified at the outset of the initiative:
Neighbourhoods need to be viewed as valuable community assets, and the most appropriate, logical spatial level of action for linking citizen to local government in a common development agenda. City government should be flexible enough to serve the unique needs of individual neighbourhoods as well as addressing their common concerns. Partnerships are critical. Everyone has a stake in neighbourhoods and everyone has a contribution to make. Neighbourhoods should provide a supportive environment for family life, young and older people and vulnerable members of society. Neighbourhoods should be safe, offer economic opportunity, support social interaction and civic involvement, and provide recreation and education opportunities. Every neighbourhood in Hampton should be a place where people want to live.
To achieve its objectives, the City Council set about constructing an organisational framework that could serve the requirements of neighbourhood development. This included the establishment of:
A Neighbourhood Commission at the city level: a 21-member body appointed by City Council with representation from neighbourhoods, institutions (such as business, non-profit organisations and the faith community), schools, city government and youth. The Neighbourhood Commission meets monthly and provides leadership, policy guidance and support to the Neighbourhood Initiative. A Neighbourhoods Office: a new City Council department that leads the Citys strategic focus on neighbourhoods. Staff take on a community development role, they are seen as not only City employees but also legitimately consultants and coaches to neighbourhood leaders and organisations as they move through the process of outreach, organising, planning and project implementation. The Neighbourhood Office reflects the Citys belief that strong, skilled, vibrant community organisations are a valuable resource to the City and its citizens.
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A Neighbourhood Task Force: a group of city department heads charged with championing the city governments relationship with, and resource allocation to, neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood organisations: neighbourhood-based and neighbourhood-serving organisations. Neighbourhood College: which provides educational and skill building training for neighbourhood and community leaders on city management, the operation of partnerships and issues of community involvement. The Neighbourhood College is said to be one of the most enduring successes of the Neighbourhood Initiative. Each year, Neighbourhood College graduates residents from its core programme, with others attending skills training for neighbourhood improvement activities. Skills training sessions filled quickly to capacity and offers community leaders and city staff the opportunity to increase leadership and organisational skills. In-SYNC, which stands for Innovations for Schools, Youth, Neighbourhoods and Communities: a relatively new effort that was developed as a result of goals outlined in the Strategic Plan. In-SYNC is a youth outreach works to build Neighbourhood Development Partnerships for youth where the neighbourhood is guiding decisions about youth programs that meet high quality standards and can be sustained into the future. In one year around 200 young people participate in free after school programs held in neighbourhood centres.
Case Study 5 Involvement of Children and Teenagers in the Governance of Helsinki, Finland The Voice of Youth in Helsinki campaign is a joint strategy by Helsinki City Education Department and Helsinki City Youth Department. Its objective is to make children and young people feel that they live in a city where they are heard and can make a difference in issues important to them, including by influencing a stream of resources for projects dedicated to young people. The Voice of Youth in Helsinki has set up a participation system for children and young people aged 7 to 18 which is expected to reach some 50,000 members of the target group by 2005. There are three participation arenas in the campaign:
The use of schools as a participation arena, involving future workshops for school classes, a new student body and meetings with the Lord Mayor. As part of this process of collaboration in 2001, children and young people in Helsinki were given authority over the allocation of one million Finnish marks from the City Council. District youth work as a participation arena, comprising house democracy at youth centres, projects for girls, cultural youth work and projects on sustainable development. The whole city as a participation arena, comprising open forums for dialogue between youth and decision makers, a peer conciliation project and the advancement of young persons initiatives.
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4.3.5
A FURTHER INTERNATIONAL STUDY Gaventa212 has produced an interesting study for NRU in ODPM. This is a review of international evidence, much of which is pertinent to debates on New Localism. Gaventa highlights growing gaps between ordinary people, especially the poor, and the institutions which affect their lives, especially governments. A study by the Commonwealth foundation in over forty countries, for example, found a growing disillusionment of citizens with their governments, based on concerns about corruption, lack of responsiveness to the needs of the poor, and the disconnection from the lives of ordinary people. One obvious international comparison is through the work of Putnam and others on social capital in the USA, where he points to the decline of civic participation (social capital is not considered here as an international example, although there are various references to the concept and empirical evidence about it as they have been used by plethora of researchers and commentators in the UK and internationally are included in other sections of this digest)213. Gaventa covers the famous Porto Alegre example from Brazil, outlined here in DEMOS work, but also discusses a rage of other examples214, including:
In Bolivia, in addition to mandating broad-based participatory processes starting at neighbourhood level as part of the decentralisation of local government, there are citizens oversight, or Vigilance committees, in each municipality, which are empowered to freeze municipal budgets if actual expenditures varies too far from the planning process; In India, as part of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, local governments given the task of planning for economic development and social justice, which often begins at village level; Under the same legislation, in local councils, one third of the seats, and the office of chairperson should be reserved for women, with similar arrangements for those of lower castes and tribes. About nine million women and 600,000 lower caste or tribal members have now been elected; In the State of Madhya Pradesh a new law was passed in 2001 which transferred virtually all powers concerning local development to village assemblies, including village development, budgeting, levying taxes, agriculture, natural resource management, village security, infrastructure, education and social justice.
In addition to the examples, the paper gives a good account of a range of theoretical and historical perspectives.
212 Gaventa, John (forthcoming) Representation, Community Leadership and Participation: Citizen Involvement in Neighbourhood Renewal and Local Governance, NRU ODPM 213 Putnam, Robert 2000 Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York, Simon and Schuster 214 McGee, R with N. Bazaara, J.Gaventa, R. Nierras, M.Rai, J.Rocamora, N, Saule, E.Williams and S. Zermeno 2003 Legal frameworks for citizen participation LogoLink Research Report, Institute of Development Studies 148
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This report reviews evidence on new localism primarily looking at local government. Examples are given of active participation in local democracy and decision making, particularly in terms of service delivery and new approaches, such as Local Strategic Partnerships and neighbourhood management. The case studies include citizen involvement in service delivery, as well as international examples.
ISBN 1 85112 770 4 17.00

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New Localism

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New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neighbourhoods and Public Services: Evidence from Local Government

Introduction and Background

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

Examples of user involvement in service delivery and strategic decision making

Examples from further afield

Key Findings Summary

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

Key Findings Summary

undertaking consultation; joint planning on communication and strategy.

Examples of user involvement in service delivery and strategic decision making

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Key Findings Summary

OTHER IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Evidence from further afield

Introduction and Background

1.2 Description of this digest

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Introduction and Background

1.3 New Localism, community and funding models

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

geographical areas, and, communities of interest.

Introduction and Background

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

1.4 Looking forward

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

5% 27% 42% 24% 0% 1%

Scrutiny of budgets for Transport, Development, Police and Fire Authorities 31

ODPM 2002 Connecting with communities improving communications in local government

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

Central Government (%) 15 4 16 14 4 15 3 3 60 18 32 4 26 6 2

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

61% users satisfied 26% non-users satisfied 31% satisfied overall

71% users satisfied 27% non-users satisfied 33% satisfied overall

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

The issue of satisfaction is explored further in section 2.2.3.

Audit Commission 2003 Trust in public institutions 25

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

People least likely to trust the local council:

Public expectations have risen over time.

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

Honesty Trustworthiness Communication ability Competence.

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Table 6: Resident satisfaction with their local authority

Table 7: Residents perceptions of the image of their local authority

Source: Residents Survey, 2001. N = 2,568. Data are unweighted.

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Local Democracy, Engagement and Participation

New Localism Citizen Engagement, Neigbourhoods and Public Services

Table 9: Perceived levels of information by authority type

well informed (%) 46 48 45 42 52 39 47 49

limited information (%) 50 48 50 52 45 57 48 45

net information (%) -4 0 -5 -10 7 -18 -1 4