Giving Citizens and Service Users a Say on Assessing Your Services

1. Giving Citizens and Service Users a Say on Assessing Your Services Davy Jones Sector-Led Improvement Conference Birmingham 17th October 2011 Davy Jones Consultancy

2. Reaching a defining moment • Sleepwalking to environmental catastrophe… • UN: 200,000 people dying each year already • Worst Economic crisis since Great Depression • Massive demographic changes • Trust in traditional politics at rock-bottom • We need to be more “political” • We need more participation Davy Jones Consultancy Davy Jones Consultancy

3. Change of Government • Reduce public sector deficit • Shrink the size of the state / less regulation • Reorganise local services • More localism • More transparency • More self reliance – Big Society Davy Jones Consultancy

4. Public support for cuts “There is a real need to cut spending on public services in order to pay off the very high national debt we now have” Agree Disagree Davy Jones Consultancy

5. Is the tide turning ? 62% Cuts are unfair 58% Cuts are too quick, 26% about right 50% Cuts are too deep, 27% about right Latest YouGov poll, September 2011 Davy Jones Consultancy

6. Who is to blame ? Mervyn King (Bank of England): “ The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it.” Davy Jones Consultancy

7. Who are the real spongers? Billions of pounds Bank bailout figure of £1.3trn taken from Bank of England website Tax and fraud evasion by rich variously estimated at between £80-120bn Benefit fraud figure of £3.3bn taken from DWP report on 2009/10 Davy Jones Consultancy

8. Localism Bill extends participation ? • Neighbourhood planning • Local referenda – 5% petition • Community “right to challenge” • Community “right to buy” • BUT new BV guidance repeals Duty to Involve ! • And cuts undermine existing community involvement Davy Jones Consultancy

9. Evolving involvement agenda • Old-style “community development” work • Private sector approach to customer focus • Robert Putnam – Social Capital • New Labour “top-down” Empowerment - laws • Big Society – “bottom up” emphasis - but fatally linked to cuts in public perception Davy Jones Consultancy

10. Do people want to be involved on the cuts ? Involvement on the cuts 11% Would like to be actively involved 5.7m people Would like a say in decisions 29% 15m people 36% Would like Information only 18.6m people 22% Not interested as long as experts involved Base: 1,000 GB adults, 18+. June 2010. Source: Ipsos MORI Davy Jones Consultancy

11. Involvement in the economic crisis People now expect transparency & to “have a say” in how their money is spent ! • Involvement leads to better targeting of services • Involvement is key to community cohesion Davy Jones Consultancy

12. LG Group self-regulation regime • LAAs/CAA may be gone but emphasis on place still key • Total Place programme – multi-agency focus on prevention & outcomes – Community Budgets • New LG Group model of self regulation • Place-based budgeting: pooling budgets across council & across partners for better outcomes –Participatory Budgeting potential Davy Jones Consultancy

13. Sector-led is not enough • People simply do not trust service providers to tell truth • “Council papers like Pravda” – Pickles • Baby P /other social care tragedies • People now rely on friends/family/media & other sources for opinions • Rate your GP site - more to come • Users / citizens expect now to “have a say” Davy Jones Consultancy

14. Transparency & new structures not enough • Performance information on the web prerequisite for dialogue – but not enough ! • Much of raw data is incomprehensible ! • “Armchair auditors” myth • One-stop portals good, but not everyone on web ! • New Local Health Watch • New Health & Well-Being Boards Davy Jones Consultancy

15. Let users/citizens decide Local Accounts - Adult Services “An effective community-based approach is achieved when councils and their partners actively involve people, carers, families and communities in the design, development, delivery and review of innovative care and support arrangements to maximise choice and independence and utilise the widest range of resources.” Think Local Act Personal, January 2011 Davy Jones Consultancy

16. A new co-operative model • Co-design: citizens & service users identify what they want/need from local services/providers; • Co-commission: citizens & service users directly involved in choosing service & budget priorities and shaping services to meet those identified needs; • Co-deliver: citizens & service users increasingly involved in running services directly; and • Co-evaluation: citizens & service users take a leading role in directly assessing the effectiveness of services and their impact on local areas. Davy Jones Consultancy

17. How it might work in practice • Area • Parish / neighbourhood / locality • Neighbourhood charter / contract • Service • Mutli or single agency / personal • Service charter / contract • Agreement • Signed off with users / citizens ! • Use PB for public money coming into area (Community Budgets) or services Davy Jones Consultancy

18. How it might work in practice (2) • Users/citizens decide what is important – quality of life/service – what should be provided/assessed • Variety of user/advocacy/area-based mechanisms used to gather opinions, insight & data • Deliberative forums and online methods • Provision of comparative data & information stores • Expert help to weigh up all info and decide results • Final agreement on content/judgements • Wide dissemination of outcomes • Feeds back into next round of service planning Davy Jones Consultancy

19. Contact Davy Jones 07932 616843 davy@davyjonesconsultancy.co.uk www.davyjonesconsultancy.co.uk Twitter:@davyjones2 Davy Jones Consultancy