Engagement policy

Introduction and scope

Community engagement is a positive thing to do, but it can be a complex discipline that encompasses a range of methods, one of which is consultation. This policy covers all forms of community engagement across all service areas and geographical parts of the county. The policy will help officers to understand:

what we mean by engagement and all that it encompasses
the type of engagement that will best suit their needs
when and if community engagement is required
the difference between consultation and engagement
why the support of the engagement team (ET) is important
what we expect in terms of quality and standards when engaging with communities

This policy cannot provide legal advice or definitive answers to all questions relating to engagement and consultation. However, it provides clarity on the type of support and advice available to all staff wishing to undertake such activity.

The ET must approve engagement undertaken in any area of the council before it can be progressed and made public.

Definition of engagement and consultation

For the purposes of this policy 'community' refers to individuals, residents, groups or organisations (voluntary, public or private) of Lincolnshire.

There can be confusion around the difference between engagement and consultation:

engagement is a concept that captures a range of methods of information sharing and dialogue with communities and service users. Consultation and other engagement activities sit within this broader engagement spectrum
consultation is a more formal method within this spectrum, by which we ask people's views on a particular subject or proposal to directly inform a specific decision. It is usually time limited and is subject to law and guidance

Engagement

As an activity, 'engagement' is defined as ongoing, regular dialogue. It includes simple conversations but also collaborative approaches to working with our communities and partners. It is generally seen to offer great value in ensuring we make informed decisions, with stakeholders involved throughout the process.

Consultation

Consultation is just one element of engagement. Generally, we consult where we are legally or ethically obliged to do so, for example, when considering a service or policy. Good practice here also helps protect the reputation of the organisation.

Policy principles

To achieve our aim of engaging with communities effectively, you must access the support of the engagement team (ET) at the earliest possible opportunity. The team will help you to decide how to proceed, and what types of engagement activity will best suit your needs and those of the people with whom you engage.

The ET will work with you to ensure that:

the purpose, scope and objectives of any engagement (or consultation) are clearly stated at the outset and informed by an equality impact analysis, where required. They will clarify the stage that the service development or commissioning activity has reached so far
accessible engagement methods and tools are utilised to match audience needs and engagement objectives. Guidance and supporting documents are available to ensure robust and auditable practice
engagement activities are delivered within time frames that are proportionate and realistic, to give stakeholders sufficient time to provide considered responses
engagement activities are widely advertised and promoted. This includes publicising feedback within 12 weeks of a consultation closing
staff are provided with the specialist training, development and the support they need to get the job done well
continual improvement is achieved by keeping pace with current engagement and consultation research and good practice, developing case law and guidance, and by evaluating engagement activities along with the support and advice provided

It is essential to consider the Gunning Principles when undertaking a consultation exercise. It is good practice to bear these, and the Brown and additional Bracking Principles (which relate to equalities rather than consultation specifically) in mind when planning and running engagement.

The key Gunning Principles are:

consultation must take place when the proposal is still at a formative stage
sufficient reasons must be put forward for the proposal to allow for intelligent consideration and response
adequate time must be given for consideration and response
the product of the consultation must be conscientiously taken into account

Brown and Bracking Principles (due regard, relating to equalities) state:

decision-makers must be aware of their personal duties
the due regard duty must be fulfilled before and at the time of decisions
analysis must be rigorous
the duty to have due regard cannot be delegated
the duty is a continuing one
it is good practice to keep an adequate record
it is integral and important to ensure the fulfilment of anti-discrimination legislation
a public body must assess the risk and extent of any adverse impact and mitigation before adopting a proposed policy
public bodies must have enough evidence to demonstrate it has discharged its duty
public bodies should place equality considerations at the centre of policy formulation

There are a number of acts and statutes which dictate when and how consultation must take place in some services. If relevant to the service area, the Care Act for example, stipulates that consultation should take place if:

a change to an adult care service is significant
it will have a considerable impact upon people
it has been consulted on before (or a commitment to do so has been demonstrated)

Advice must be sought from the ET.

This policy follows our risk governance and assurance structure and processes. The corporate leadership team are responsible for risks associated with this policy and the provision of consultation or engagement advice and support to services across the whole council. They are ultimately accountable for the risk and related control environment. They are responsible for ratifying the director area’s risk register and any director area risk policies in line with the corporate risk appetite, as laid out in the risk management policy and process guide.

The law with regard to engagement and consultation

Whilst there is no legal duty to engage with communities (therefore no legal risk) it is a positive thing to do. It builds relationships and leads to better policies, strategies and services. It also offers greater freedom and flexibility for the service and those who are engaged than consultation.

Consultation can also be seen as good practice because of the difficulty in identifying definitively whether a legal obligation exists. This is because the law of consultation is based on the principles of fairness and legitimate expectation. Therefore, the question of legal obligation will often be a risk assessed judgment that may best be managed by carrying out a consultation.

There is no general duty on local authorities to consult when considering changes to services or policies. Courts recognise a large degree of autonomy in public bodies as they are often seeking to balance a number of competing or conflicting interests. They also recognize the impact on decision-making if everything had to be the subject of consultation. The courts have identified a number of circumstances where consultation will be required. However, they are ever-developing and are a matter of judgment in every case. These circumstances fall into two categories:

where there is a statutory duty to consult
where the courts will imply a duty to consult from the council's general obligation to act fairly

Where a consultation is carried out it must be done properly, in accordance with the principles laid down by the courts. The potential for challenge means that we are keen to:

accurately describe our proposals
establish written audit trails of the information we have provided and the responses received
demonstrate that we have given proper consideration to public and stakeholder views when reaching a decision

The law allows consultation to take place on a preferred option as long as any other options that have been considered are included with clear reasons for their rejection.

Where there is uncertainty about the legal obligation to consult, the ET will advise whether further guidance should be sought from LCC Legal Services.

The GDPR was introduced in 2018. All consultation and engagement must comply with the law regarding, for example:

consent
processing and storage of data

For more information, contact the Information assurance team by email: IA@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Roles and responsibilities

Our specialist engagement team (ET) provide support and advice to staff from all director areas and elected members on planning and delivery of all engagement (including consultation activities). The team draws on many years of experience on the varying methods of engagement, carrying out and advising on consultation and working with service areas across the authority.

The support and advice provided is designed to:

help services ensure that good quality engagement occurs
avoid duplication
contribute to improving community confidence in the council
ensure a consistent and inclusive approach across all of our services

In return we expect that the service area responsible for the engagement or consultation will carry out activities included in the Quality Assurance Process, (QAP). This will ensure that the consultation or engagement activity is of the best possible standard and achieves what it aims to do.

The QAP serves to ensure standards are met with 'sign off' required at specific stages of consultation and engagement from the formation of the idea, to development and delivery, through to activity completion. (This includes sign off from the service area's portfolio holder).

Process

The QAP was developed to support effective delivery this policy's principles. Council specified that members of staff undertaking engagement or consultation activities must notify the ET that work is planned. Officers will then follow the QAP process.

The engagement or consultation advice process follows 16 key stages and is supported by template documents. Each stage identifies the activities that will need to take place and the documents that support this activity, depending on the scale and scope of the piece of work. After each stage has been completed, the ET will ensure sign off with you. Once signed, the documents provide a record of decision making throughout your engagement or consultation.

Whilst the ET can support and advise you with your engagement, it is important that you consider and identify any resource requirements when planning any activity. This could include:

securing venues
identifying a member of staff responsible for collating and analysing feedback
staffing your consultation or engagement event or activity
the production of any materials and postage

The ET has planning templates and references and can guide you through this part of the process as well. With regard to questionnaire or survey development, the ET will advise on the content, wording or format. We are not able to extract and analyse survey data. However, we can connect you with corporate business support who undertake this activity. Business support colleagues will produce a data analysis report from completed SNAP survey forms free of charge. Please note that this does not include interpretative analysis that would need to be undertaken within your service or agreed in advance with business support (at an hourly cost). The survey approval process was revised in 2018. It is under constant review as new online tools become available.

For more information on any of the above contact the ET by email: engagement@lincolnshire.gov.uk

Quality assurance process

Request - open new folder in 'Live Engagement Projects'. Add to engagement register. Service area to confirm portfolio holder is happy to proceed
Introductory meeting - clarify activity and ET offer at first meeting
Legal advice - check if legal advice has been sought regarding contentious subjects
Initial documents - run through scoping and responsibilities template, engagement plan, EIA and any other relevant documentation
EIA process - begins with version 0.1 completed by service area lead and shared with allocated ET officers at each version control change
Engagement plan - define methodology, tools and processes for stakeholders. Identify communications team tasks and check if local councillor needs to be notified
Timeline and development of questions - develop questions for survey. Ensure corporate process is followed for surveys
Testing - initial test of the EIA and questions with relevant stakeholders, for example individuals, organisations with or representing 'protected characteristics'
Sign off - if high risk, obtain sign off from Legal. If not contentious, relevant head of service (level) signs off. ET send process documents to the DET or IA team
Consultation or engagement activity starts - ET add activity to the engagement database
Review - mid-point review of engagement-based activity (including EIA), involving allocated ET officers, service area lead and relevant experts
Analysis - service area analysis of outcomes and factual information (data). Survey data extracted for service area lead by corporate business support team
End of activity review - lessons learned discussion involving ET officers, service area leads and relevant experts
Feedback - service area lead to make findings publicly accessible and send to ET lead, complete engagement activity evaluation form
ET evaluation - ET manager sends feedback form to service area lead to evaluate ET advice and support
Close - close off on register. Timetable three-month evaluation of outcomes and six-monthly review of EIA

What the engagement team offers

We offer:

advice and support in the development of consultation and engagement planning. (This includes guidance and templates to aid the consultation or engagement process)
advice and support on appropriate wording to ensure surveys or questionnaires are in plain language and are fit for purpose
liaison with officers able to provide advice on information assurance and build online surveys, as part of the corporate process
advice and support on testing the survey or questionnaire
connections with services or organisations carrying out similar activity or working with similar audiences. This enables joint working and sharing of results (where permitted)
advice and support in the completion of equality impact analyses (EIAs)
facilitation at workshops or other engagement or consultation activities
access to our engagement database and calendar. Promotion to people within the community who want to engage on issues that interest or affect them
access to Lincolnshire’s Community Engagement Community of Practice which enables sharing of experience, ideas and learning
dissemination of training information so that colleagues can deliver engagement or consultation activity themselves
advice to ensure consultation adheres to relevant legal precedents (where required working closely with Legal Services) including Gunning, Brown and Bracking Principles
providing a contact point to help individuals and external organisations contact the relevant member of staff within LCC
raising an issue on behalf of an individual or external organisation with the relevant officer by forwarding emails or setting up a meeting
facilitating responses to queries by making a 'reminder' contact with a member of staff if they do not respond to an individual or external organization

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