People are involved in shaping and improving services

Why are we doing this?

Hello.

Would you like to be involved in decisions the Council makes which affect you? Are you aware of existing opportunities to get involved?

We (the council) are running a project until September 2022 called 'people are involved in shaping and improving services' and from this project the we are hoping to develop and formalise an approach to involvement and engagement which will allow you to:

  • Understand how, when and why the council makes different decisions
  • Know what opportunities there are for you to get involved, and to what extent
  • Feel supported to participate in the council's decision-making processes in a way that is meaningful and appropriate for you

 

What do we want to know?

To support the aims of this project, we will be carrying out research in phases over the next three years.

Year 1 (ending 31 March 2020) (completed) 

Over 400 people took part in a survey that helped us to understand how you feel about how the council currently manages involvement or consultation opportunities, how you feel about getting involved in the council's decision-making, and what changes you might like to see in the future. From this, we will develop a recommendations report and an action plan.

Year 2 (finishing 30 September 2021(completed) 

The Covid-19 pandemic meant we spoke to fewer people throughout 2021. 75 people completed the online survey and we hosted a number of virtual workshops via Microsoft Teams. We aimed to find out whether the pandemic had any effect on how you want to get involved, and we used your insight to develop a draft engagement policy.

Year 3 (finishing September 2022)

We will continue to work on our recommendations and actions from Years 1 and 2, and we will conduct a final survey so you can help us to continue to monitor our progress. From this, we will aim to develop sustainable long-term guidance and support for staff and for communities to ensure that  opportunities for involvement will be managed in a way which is meaningful and beneficial to you

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Latest Update: July 2022

2020 and 2021 were a disruptive couple of years, overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, we would like to assess whether anything has changed permananetly about the way you would like to get involved in Council decision-making so we can refine and finalise our draft engagement policy. We will then conduct a separate consultation on our engagement policy at a later date. The policy will provide guidance and expectations for how the Council involves you in decision-making both now and in the future.

You can help us by taking our Year 3 survey which will be linked below until the closing deadline of 16 September 2022. If you would like a paper copy of the survey posting to you please telephone 01824 708027 or email public.engagement@denbighshire.gov.uk

Year 3 survey

 

 

Location: Denbighshire County Council

  • Start date 17 February 2020
  • End date 30 September 2022
  • Methods Questionnaire - Online, Questionnaire - Face to Face
  • Supplier Denbighshire County Council

What we found out

Over the three years, we found out:

  1. Around 76% of people told us they'd like to be involved when the COuncil makes a decision which affects them
  2. On average, around 73% of people told us that they felt engagement with the Council was meaningful when they were made to feel valued and listened to, even if the final decision the Council made wasn't one they agreed with
  3. Less than half of people (around 46%) felt it was easy to get involved with Council decision-making
  4. Around 49% of people preferred physical engagement activities (such as drop-ins, public meetings, and door-knocking); with 46% preferring digital engagement (such as online workshops, focus groups and online surveys)

What difference has it made?

We will take the findings from this research and we will be using them to develop:

1. A Public Engagement Policy, which will be an internal document intended to help Denbighshire County Council staff and Councillors to plan and manage engagement activities

2. A Public Participation Strategy, which will be a public document that details how the Council aims to address key barriers to public participation in Council decision-making and where we will set targets for improvement

Contact

Department/ service area:

Corporate Support Service: People

Full address:

County Hall
Wynnstay Road
Ruthin
LL15 1YN

Contact:

Jo Sutton

Contact numbers: