7. How will we achieve this?
- We will bring together engagement activities across the council to oversee, plan, and improve quality.
- Our staff involved with engagement will develop know-how and experience to help the council and those who engage with it to do so effectively.
- We will engage in the most appropriate and cost effective way to enable people to give their views and be heard.
- We will provide guidance to support staff and our partners with engagement activity.
- The council will work with organisations and communities to engage on council decisions, services and performance, and will publicise these activities.
- To be open and answerable, we will use a ‘You Said, We Did’ way of working. We will tell people what we have done and what we are going to do in a timely and open way.
- We will work with local communities to seek out relevant information to help them make decisions suited to their needs.
We wish to engage and work more closely with the communities we serve, our partners, and other organisations to develop services. Communities will have more influence over decisions and greater involvement, choice, and control over the way in which local services are shaped and delivered.
We already have many good and innovative examples of engagement and involvement, from informing people and communities right through to coproduction of services and partnership working. More public and community involvement should result in services which are more in line with need, helping to reduce costly and disruptive challenges to council decisions.