Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations were made.

To consider a presentation from Katy Forde and Lisa Wright (Policy, Performance and Reform) outlining further information about the Council’s approach to consultation & engagement and the response rate to consultations.

A representative of the Deputy Chief Executive attended the meeting to provide further information about the Council’s approach to consultation & engagement and the response rate to consultations.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Members noted that there didn’t need to be a live consultation in order for a resident to provide the Council with feedback about a Council service.

·         The difference between public consultations and staff consultations undertaken by Human Resources was explained.

·         On-going consultations with a low response rate were targeted with marketing in an effort to increase the response, but ultimately the level of response was determined by the level of public interest.

·         Website statistics revealed that a significant number of people were viewing the consultation pages but were not taking part.

·         Over 4,000 people had subscribed to receive the Stockport Review EXTRA via email.

·         Members expressed concern that the use of social media to communicate consultations was excluding older generations.

·         It was reported that an integrated approach was taken to ensure that residents without internet access were still reached through posters and library kiosks.

·         It was suggested that the financial investment in marketing a consultation had to be proportionate to the level of change or saving.

·         Further concerns were raised with a previous consultation that had asked whether residents appreciated particular services and was perceived as a waste of resources.

·         It was confirmed that the consultation in question was a national survey in which the Local Authority had no input, and that there was no longer a statutory duty to undertake national surveys.

RESOLVED – (1) That the Democratic Services Manager be requested to draft the final report and that the following points be incorporated in the report:-

·         The Council should make further attempts to collate a database of email addresses to use as a tool of communicating consultations.

·         The touch screen kiosks currently in libraries should be upgraded.

·         The Council should consider using social media as a consultation tool as well as a tool to communicate consultations.

·         Councillors should be used as a tool to communication consultations to residents who they think would be interested.

(2) That the approval of the final report be delegated to the Lead Councillor.

To agree a date of the next meeting of the Scrutiny Review Panel.

RESOLVED – (1) That the review be concluded.

(2) That the Democratic Services manager be requested to include an item on the agenda for the next meeting of Corporate, Resource Management & Governance Scrutiny Committee, to discuss the possibility of undertaking a further Scrutiny Review in relation to business rate and rent collection from industrial and commercial premises owned by the Council.