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Consultations  >  Improving Consultation

Improving Consultation in Aberdeen

The proposals to co-ordinate consultation and communication in Aberdeen are based on the principle of giving each partner in The Aberdeen City Alliance access to the views of a wide range of individuals, communities and networks, using a range of methods to suit different needs.

They are also intended to enable a planned and efficient approach to consultation and communication, minimising 'consultation fatigue' among local people, and duplication of effort by the agencies involved.

One idea is that the partners could jointly fund a member of staff to take responsibility for the smooth running of the Citizens' Panel, maintaining consultative networks on behalf of the member organisations, ensuring that the timing of major consultations do not clash, and leading a sub-group looking after associated issues.

Consultative initiatives currently underway within the city, which are already based on some cross-agency co-ordination, include:

• The Care Consultation Network - this brings together a range of specific networks within the public and voluntary sectors to enable communication and consultation with service users, carers and service providers. This is done under the auspices of the Health & Social Care Forum (part of Community Planning). The main partners at present are ACC, ACVO and Communities Scotland. A three-year funding package is currently being developed.

• Aberdeen City Voice is the name of Aberdeen's citizens' panel. This was an initiative developed in 2003 with the aim of giving Aberdeen residents a say in how local services were planned and provided for in the future. To do this, 1,000 residents of the city have agreed to complete three paper questionnaires per year, asking their views on a range of local services and issues. Soon we are also hoping to have the questionnaire available online for all residents of the city to complete. The citizens’ panel is now a partnership funded by Aberdeen City Council, Grampian Police, Grampian Fire Brigade, Scottish Enterprise Grampian, NHS Grampian, Communities Scotland and Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations.

• The Aberdeen City Civic Forum brings together community representatives from areas and communities of interest. It ensures a community voice on The Aberdeen City Alliance and its Challenge Forums.

• Locality Planning is building community engagement in neighbourhood Community Action Plans through a 'step approach' to consultation and participation. This is being done under the auspices of the Locality Planning Forum.

• The Getting Involved Challenge Forum is currently gathering details of the arrangements being developed by each community planning partner to engage citizens, communities and service users with a view to exploring how a more effective more co-ordinated approach might be taken across the partnership.

• Aberdeen City Council, through its Community Development Section, has developed, and is supporting, a range of consultative forums for the communities of interest. These offer a communication channel for hard to reach groups such as people with disabilities, minority ethnic groups, gypsy/travellers, women, older people, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender) and young people.

• A new website for Community Planning will provide a consultation/events diary to help co-ordinate consultation in the City. All partners will have access to this and will be encouraged to use it to co-ordinate all forms of consultation.

• Community Councils provide the main way of consulting neighbourhoods. There are currently 21 out of a possible 30. A 3 year development programme to enhance the role and effectiveness of Community Councils (including increasing the number) is planned to begin in January 2005.