davy jones consultancy politics, participation, places & partnerships davy jones kent county...

Davy Jones Consultancy

Politics, Participation, Places & Partnerships

Davy Jones

Kent County Council29th April 2010


• Sleepwalking to environmental catastrophe……

• UN: 200,000 people dying each year already

• 85% see climate change as a “significant threat”

• Economic crisis - consumerism threatens world

• Massive demographic changes• Trust in traditional politics at rock-bottom• We need to be more “political”• We need more participation• This will happen around places• Public service partnerships need to

organise it


Reaching a defining moment

• Most centralised system of running local services in West

Why citizen participation now ?


• Rise of consumer choice & explosion of information through internet• Rise of social media / participation• Individual & collective voice & choice

• Successive Governments responsible !

• But…it’s bureaucratic and expensive !

• Increasing evidence that involving citizens works

• Increasing recognition of benefits

• Localism, less inspection/PIs, Total Place & involving citizens - cross-party support

• Broad consensus across main parties - all manifestoes – differences in scale/speed

• “Big society demands mass engagement” (David Cameron)

• Conservative councils now majority of councils using PB

• Whatever Government emerges, these trends will not go away

Political consensus ?



• Better services

• Better outcomes

• Strengthens democracy

• Strengthens social capital

• Strengthens community cohesion

Benefits of involvement


Do people want to be involved?

MORI August 2009


Why don’t people get involved?

Power Inquiry (2006): “citizens do not feel that the processes of formal democracy offer them enough influence over political decisions”“Citizens often believe that the official mind is already made up, or that it will not listen to the results of participation exercises” (Lowndes et al 2001) Audit Commission 2005 survey of ‘best practice’ authorities found that three-quarters failed to link the results of consultation with decision-making processes


1 Better services – in an economic crisis

• Involvement leads to better targeting of services• Co-ordinated engagement can save money

Empowerment is not a luxury – it can save money!


2 Better outcomes

• Use of “local knowledge” to improve operational matters*

• Correlation of satisfaction with local council and ability to influence local decisions

• Behaviour change programmes

* Maguire & Truscott study of community involvement in LSPs, 2006

• Correlation of happiness with ability to influence

Representative Democracy

Participatory Democracy

3 Strengthening democracy


• Participatory democracy can boost representative democracy

• Restore people’s faith in process in discredited politics


MORI Poll –Do you generally trust these groups to tell the truth or not?

Trust in Politicians


Trust in Bankers?


Increasing satisfaction with area as a place to live

Increased feelings of community/neighbourliness;

More likely to feel people in area friendly and neighbours look out for

each other;Less likely to have problems with

neighbours

Increased feelings of safety/security;

Feel safer walking alone after dark;

Less likely to think vandalism/graffiti,

crowds/gangs, teenagers hanging around and being

attacked/harassed a problem

More likely to feel can influence local decisions

MORI 2009

4 Strengthening social capital


• Divisions within and between communities

• Economic scarcity makes it worse

• Transparency in decision-making

• Blackburn with Darwen 2004 – pre-Total Place money tracker work re BNP

5 Strengthening community cohesion


Participation in Places

• LSPs / LAAs / CAA / One Place / Total Place

• LAAs: really local and agreed with citizens

• CAA: self-assessment agreed with citizens

• Total Place: citizens deciding how money spent

• One Place: real one, but not enough for accountability !

• Staff: critical role in citizen involvement


Key legislation & guidance

• 2007 Local Government & Public Involvement in Health (LGPIH) Act

• Sustainable Communities Act (2007)• Statutory guidance for LGPIH (2008)• Comprehensive Area Assessment

(2009)• (Budget 2009) Operational Efficiency

Programme – Total Place• Local Democracy, Economic

Development & Construction Act – LDEDC (2009)

• Local Area Agreements across England upper tier from April 2008 (link to SCS and to parish plans)

• New “duty to inform, consult & involve”

• Duty to co-operate on LAA targets for local public sector partners

• Changes to inspection regime – CPA to CAA

• Councillor “call for action” & extended scrutiny role

• Local Involvement Networks (LINks) in health and social care

Local Government & Public Involvement in Health Act



Section 138 – Duty to Involve

• New duty to “inform, consult & involve” since April 2009 to “embed a culture of engagement & empowerment”

• Best Value authorities – Council & fire/rescue• LDEDC extended it to Police & probation• Parallel duties in health S242 of NHS Act 2006• Where BV authority considers it appropriate…, it

must involve representatives of local persons or local persons in the exercise of their functions by… Providing information on the exercise of the function Consulting about the exercise of the function Involve in another way about the function

• “Appropriate”: guidance states “routine functions” & “significant one-off decisions”


Comprehensive Area Assessment

The three CAA questions:1 How well do local priorities express

bcommunity needs & aspirations?2 How well are the outcomes and

bimprovements needed being delivered?

3 What are the prospects for future improvements?

1 CAA DOES NOT make separate judgement of the duty to involve

2 CAA DOES assess implementation of duty as key to assessing question 3

3 Red/Green flags-engagement/cohesion


Local Democracy, Economic Development & Construction

Act

• Extension of duty to involve (list of national, regional & local organisations, esp police, probation, YOTs)

• Duty to respond to petitions (15 June) and setting up system of e-petitions (15 December)

• Guidance now issued• Duty to promote democracy – • guidance delayed by election

Local DemocracyEconomic Development

& ConstructionBill

Duty to respond to petitions• Every council needs to draw

up/adopt/publish/comply with a Petitions Scheme (& e-petitions scheme)

• Council will need to:

•Acknowledge and respond to petition

•Designate them as requiring debate or holding an officer to account

• Open to all who live, study & work in area

• Petitions must relate to

•a function of authority; or (upper tier only) “an improvement in the economic social or environmental well-being of the authority’s area to which any of its partner authorities could contribute”

• Government has issued guidance & model schemeDavy Jones Consultancy


ContactDavy Jones

07932 616843

[email protected]

www.davyjonesconsultancy.co.uk

davy jones consultancy politics, participation, places & partnerships davy jones kent county...

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