This report asks the Board to comment on a draft Community Engagement Plan and seeks Board authority to consult on the Plan (amended in the light of Board comments if any).

The Head of Policy, Culture and Communications submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended).

With the Chair’s agreement Councillor Campbell addressed the meeting.  Councillor Campbell suggested that in the context of the consultation on the Plan, Council officers should develop a list of key stakeholders with whom the Council would consult as a matter of course.

The Board Member, Youth and Communities referred to the Scrutiny discussion of the report and commented upon the recommendations that flowed from it.  The recommendations were all adopted by the Board in the terms set out in resolution (2) below.

Resolved:-

(1)   Subject to the Board’s decisions in resolution (2) below on the outcome of the Scrutiny deliberations, to issue the draft Community Engagement Plan for consultation;

(2)  In relation to the Scrutiny recommendations:-

(a)  That a clear statement be provided in the Plan, supported by guidance to Service Areas, of the need for all engagement activity to link together in order to deliver the overall aims of the Plan;

(b)  To ask the Head of Policy, Culture and Communications to ensure that the guidance and toolkit were fit for purpose for the diverse groups with whom the Council was seeking to engage;

(c)  To ask that the Plan reflected the role played by councillors and how this was supported through advice and training and was linked to democratic processes;

(d)  To ask officers:-

(i)            In the context of the consultation on the Plan, to develop a list of key stakeholders with whom the Council would consult as a matter of course;

(ii)          In the context of consultation, to ask that a questionnaire be issued, built around the main areas upon which consultation feedback on the Plan was wanted;

(iii)         To report back on examples of good and poor engagement activities;

(e)  To ask the Head of Policy, Culture and Communications to emphasise and give more weight in the Plan to seeking and encouraging engagement at a very local level to ensure communities can help shape decisions and iissues that affect them;

(f)   That the Plan and toolkit should recognise the importance of defining as broadly as possible and on a case by case basis what might constitute a ‘hard to reach’ group.