Agenda item

The Committee is asked to consider the report on the Communications and Engagement Strategy. This item will be led by Councillor Glynnis Phillips, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and supported by Susannah Wintersgill, Director of Strategy, Insight and Communications, Kerry Middleton, Head of Comms, Marketing and Engagement, and Carol Stow, Consultation and Engagement Manager.

Having considered the report and presentation, and asked any questions, the Committee is recommended to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make arising therefrom.

Councillor Glynis Phillips, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, and Susannah Wintersgill, Director of Strategy, Insight, and Communications, Kerry Middleton, Head of Comms, Marketing and Engagement, and Carole Stow, Consultation and Engagement Manager, attended for this item.

Cllr Phillips introduced the report and highlighted that the strategy had two key aims:

·       To engage with and listen to residents and other partners in a more active and inclusive way. This includes listening to what residents value most, involving them in conversations about the things that affect them, and then using that feedback to help shape or improve services.

·       To widen the council’s reach so that we listen to diverse communities and audiences. This includes those whose voices are seldom heard, such as young people and the digitally excluded.

There was a detailed action plan and table summarising progress against that under the headings of:

1.     Building the right foundations;

2.     Enabling two-way conversations;

3.     Expanding the Council’s reach and being inclusive.

In discussion, the following points were raised:

·       Guidance had been drawn up for teams conducting consultations across the Council and the team was working hard to engage with services so that they were contacting the team and seeking its advice at the earliest opportunity.  There was a network of officers who were able to provide the advice and spread the message more widely.

·       The Council will be conducting its annual resident satisfaction survey and the Cabinet Member explained that she had asked for it to be sent to all members before it was issued and would be grateful for any feedback.  She explained that, in order to measure progress against previous years, it was important that the survey kept many of the same questions.

·       Approximately 4500 people signed up to the new e-newsletter which was an additional mechanism for engagement, used alongside social media and video and not instead of them.

·       A very limited number of officers was able to self-publish onto Let’s Talk and so engagement with either the Communications team or with other programme teams was required.

·       Let’s Talk was commended as a good platform and there was discussion about whether it could be developed as an app which could highlight consultations that were relevant to residents, based on their address.

·       A high number of consultation was felt to lead to ‘consultation fatigue’ and to lead to particular groups being more likely to participate rather than the wide swathe of the population that would be desirable.

·       It was important for the Council to acknowledge the responses of those who responded to consultations and to feedback to them what the Council planned to do after the consultations had concluded.  The distinction between consultation and engagement were highlighted as was the need to be clear when the Council was sharing information about its plans rather than seeking approval. 

·       Particularly for consultation exercises that were likely to be controversial, the idea of individual sign-off by Cabinet as an whole or by the relevant Cabinet member was raised.  It was suggested that the Communications team could suggest a number of options but that, given the likely controversy, it should be a member decision as to which to deploy.

The Committee resolved to make the following observations and recommendations to Cabinet:

-        A key observation around the diversity of the different layers of consultation and engagement and issues arising from that

-        Recognising the sheer number and burden of consultations and whether they’re necessary – and the importance of explaining why they’re happening

-        That it is paramount that the outcomes that can be expected.  People will be listened to but doesn’t mean they’ll be able to stop policy

-        That too many consultations narrow the pool of respondees

-        The importance of ensuring the Council has the courtesy to respond to maximise engagement

1.     That on contentious issues political leaders should be accountable for how the consultation process is undertaken rather than officers

2.     That the Council engages with partners and uses sampling to ensure broader populations

3.     That Let’s Talk Oxfordshire be considered to be launched in app form.