Useful references
There are quite a few strategies, policies, procedures, guidelines, rules and laws that govern how we should engage. Case law is continually developing, but the key legal principles governing our engagement and consultation activity are:
Legal bits
The Gunning Principles and legitimate expectation – a set of rules that have developed as cases have been taken to court to ensure we consult in the right way, and in a genuine way. As well as the legal bit there is also guidance from the Government on consultation, known as the Cabinet Office Principles and Best Value Guidance.
Equality Act 2010, The Brown and Bracking Principles – making sure that we, especially decision makers, consider everyone’s needs, particularly those who have ‘protected characteristics’, such as disability and age.
The Localism Act 2011 – designed to change power. It means we need to listen to the public when they say they would like to take over a local resource for example.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - a law, in force from May 2018, that provides updated rules to protect data in Europe. It significantly changed previous data protection legislation in the UK, replacing the Data Protection Act 1998. The Information Commissioners Office provides further information on protecting data.
Local bits
Neighbourhood planning is part of the Localism Act. Neighbourhood development plans are documents created by local communities. We (and particularly housing planning authorities, like district councils) must take account of them when making certain decisions.
Commissioning strategies – each of our service areas has a plan of how it will plan, design, deliver or buy and review services. These plans must be informed by feedback from:
- people who use the services
- those who potentially could use them one day
- the people who care for or represent those people
The customer charter – a guide for staff so they can better understand and use data we hold and feedback from you.
Complaints policy – an explanation of how we deal with something that the public tell us has gone well or gone wrong.
Petitions scheme – an outline of how someone can prepare a petition and what we will do with a petition if they decide it is the best course of action.
Customer service centre – the way most people who want to speak to someone at Lincolnshire County Council get in touch is via staff who work in this centre. There are a number of rules, commitments and targets that the centre must work within.
As well as general guidance there is some specific legal opinion regarding the need for engagement and consultation as part of any programme to review commissioning of services that might lead to de-commissioning decisions. The key points of this guidance include:
- the setting of a budget is not authority for the actions that underpin that budget
- consultation on the budget is unlikely to be sufficiently specific to meet any consultation responsibility in relation to an individual proposal that underpins the budget
- it is lawful for the council to set a budget and then consult on individual proposals provided certain conditions are met
- the budget represents a limit that the Executive cannot exceed. It does not require the Executive to spend the money allocated by the full Council in the budget
- there is not anything fundamentally unlawful in consulting on changes which would lead to expenditure being incurred which is below the current budget