Local Strategic Partnership Consultation Strategy

Partnership Policy Statement
The Local Strategic Partnership is committed to developing a strategic and inter-agency approach to consultation in North East Lincolnshire.

The LSP believes the involvement of local people is essential for the effective development and delivery of both services and a Community Strategy for NEL. As well as having a stake in the area, by virtue of living, working or doing business in it, citizens have a wealth of local knowledge and expertise. It is their area and they have their own ideas about what living and working and being at leisure in NEL should be like, now and in the future. They are the recipients of services and should be consulted on the standards of services available. The key to tapping into this resource of local people is through their consultation and involvement in both developing and delivering the Community Strategy and on an ongoing basis, the plans and services that will help deliver a better quality of life.

Many LSP members' organisations and partnerships have a long history of consulting. This strategy builds on this work and utilises it in establishing a joint approach to consultation. The process of joining up consultation across agencies on plans, strategies and services is an ongoing process. The preparation of the Community Strategy is a key milestone, but the intention is to develop joint consultation on a range of plans and on services, in particular in areas of joint service delivery.

The standards and principles established in the document will be aspired to and applied by all LSP member organisations and partnerships on an ongoing basis. The aim to is make the best use of resources by building on existing joint consultation exercises and to share across the partnership, as far as possible, the results of consultation. This will help to avoid duplication and consultation fatigue. To make this possible all LSP partners need to commit to undertaking consultation to a minimum standard. This document sets the standard.

Context
Individual LSP members and organisations have made own individual commitment to consultation. For example:-

• NELC's Consultation Strategy "Something to Say"
• Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust - 'Public and Service User Involvement Strategy
• 'North East Lincolnshire PCT - 'Patient and Public Involvement Strategy'
• North East Lincolnshire CHC - 'A Public Involvement Strategy for North East Lincolnshire'
• Health Improvement and Modernisation Plan - 'Patient and Public Involvement in Health Care'
  
  This next step of taking a strategic and joined up approach to consultation underpins the increasing moves to joint service delivery.
  
  In addition, new guidance emerging across a range of issues should be reflected:
  
• Government Guidance on LSP
• Government Guidance on Community Strategy
• Requirements of Overview and Scrutiny particularly in respect of health
  
  Fit and Contribution to LSP Role
  The key role of the LSP is:
  
  "To develop and establish with the community both a sustainable vision for North East Lincolnshire and the means to achieve it."
  
  The consultation strategy and action plan is an important pre-requisite to make this possible, as we have to turn this desire to consult into a practical plan of who exactly to consult, where, when and how. In keeping with the sustainable development principles of the partnership, we need to ensure that the consultation is not a one off exercise, but one that helps to build the capacity of both the organisations and partnerships consulting, and those being consulted, on an ongoing basis.
  
  The Community Strategy must include:
  
• A long term vision for the area, focusing on the outcomes that are to be achieved
• An Action Plan identifying short term priorities and activities that will contribute to the achievement of the long term outcomes
• A shared commitment to implement the action plan and proposals for doing so
• Arrangements for monitoring the implementation of the action plan, for per iodically reviewing the community strategy and for reporting progress to local people.
  
  The consultation and involvement of the people of NEL in this process is called Community Planning. The consultation will underpin all of the above elements of the Community Strategy. When the Community Strategy has been prepared, the process of consultation will continue to help develop and deliver the plans and services necessary to help realise the vision and achieve the targets set within it, for improved service delivery and enhanced quality of life.
  
  Consultation is the essential key to helping the area unlock the advantages of partnership working - to:
  Link the service providers and commissioners of services with the community, to make them more responsive to local needs and priorities
  Assist in determining acceptable standards and then as an ongoing tool, assist in driving up quality of services to the local communities
  
   Aims of Strategy
  Agree strategic inter-agency approach to consultation
  
• Set common standards for LSP member organisations and partnerships
• Strengthen and develop approaches to joint consultation exercises and sharing of information to ensure best use of resources and minimise consultation fatigue
• Commit to development and maintenance of a shared consultation database
• Commit to joint consultation exercise for the Community Strategy
• Support capacity building within the community to encourage and enable effective participation
• To develop creative and innovative ways of consulting and involving individuals and the community.
• To provide support and skills training to ensure delivery of the Strategy.
  
  Principles
  
• We will only consult on issues where it is possible to influence policy or decision, so that the consultation can make a real difference. Restrictions on room for manoeuvre, e.g. from resource constra ints, national targets, or statutory requirements, will be made clear within the consultation exercise.
• We will ensure that consultation and engagement should always be as broad as circumstances permit, should always have clarity of purpose, and most importantly, should always clearly detail aspects of an issue about which the decision is inevitable.
• We will feedback the results of consultation and involvement exercises, explaining how the decision has been made and how the results of the consultation have been considered.
• We will focus particular efforts to ensure that the views of hard to reach groups are heard.
• In line with our principles of equality, we will ensure there are opportunities for all to get involved, by identifying and trying to remove obstacles to involvement
• We will adopt a range of methods to reflect the diversity of the community.
• We will develop with the community innovative and creative ways of consulting and involving individuals and communities.
• We are committed through the LSP Capacity Building project to building capacity within the community to enable people and groups to get involved
• We acknowledge that communities/individuals may want to participate at different levels and that some may not want to become fully involved.
• We will ensure there is a transparent approach which shows how consultation outcomes were considered and reflected in the decision making processes.
  
  Defining whom we are trying to reach
  The consultation process will allow local communities based on geography and/or interest to articulate their aspirations, needs and priorities. It will give them opportunities to be involved in developing and establishing a sustainable vision for NEL and, just as importantly, be involved in taking actions to achieve it.
  
  The following descriptions identify an inclusive approach to identifying interested parties and stakeholders.
  
• 1623; Individual citizens
• Geographical communities (residents of a neighbourhood, or a defined area)
• Communities of interest (such as the business sector, the voluntary sector, ethnic minorities or people with disabilities)
• Communities of concern (such as people concerned about area wide environmental issues)
• Representatives of public, private and voluntary sectors also involved in service provision in the area.
• Staff and trade unions.
• Other Stakeholders.
   
  Key Outcomes
  One of ways LSP has agreed to assess its own progress is on joint consultation. Benchmark is:
  
  "We consult jointly with the community to avoid duplication, to a recognised standard and we share the results of consultation to make best use of our resources". (LSP Rights, Roles and Responsibilities paper)
  
  Measure above by:
  Information from database on joint exercises and sharing of results?
  Feedback from consultation exercise - evaluation of method of consultation and results.
  
  Targets for:
  Increased responses to consultation exercises
  Increased involvement of community/voluntary sector in consultation
  Increased involvement of hard to reach groups in consultation
  
  Ultimate outcomes:
  Ultimate outcomes to be developed to reflect active citizenship issues.
  CDF guidance for involving and supporting local people.
  
  Action Plan
  Inter - Agency Approach through:
  1. Develop a joint budget/programme of joint consultation
  2. Develop for use across Partnership a Toolkit, support - training to implement standard across LSP Partnership.
  3. Develop a shared database that will record details of member organisations and partnerships consultation exercises covering:
  Intention to consult, on what and with whom
  Broad results of consultation
  Contact details for sharing results of consultation
  
  1. Develop an agreement for partners covering sharing results of consultation, access to database, maintenance and inputting to it (target times for data entry) funding and training in use of database.
  2. Establish baselines and targets for Consultation Strategy and Action Plan and Community Involvement Plan for LSP to decide upon.
  3. Examine Data Protection implications of sharing results of consultation.
  
  Community Strategy
  1. Audit of existing results of consultation:
  2. Assessment of results
  3. Develop Large Scale questionnaire based on statistically valid sample to underpin Community Strategy
  4. Develop and consult with Community on a Community Involvement Plan that will set out exactly
• Who
• On What
• How
• When
• How results will be processed and analysed
• How LSP will respond to results.
• Feedback mechanisms
• Shorter term responses - hit squad key fund type activity
  5. Oversee training and support for consultation and involvement exercises.