Effective public engagement and participation with communities, in shaping, designing and commissioning of public services, underpins the national drive to deliver citizen-focused services. It is firmly embedded in national and local polices over the years. Local government, as a key provider of public services, can access the views and engage with a range of citizens and communities and in their role as community leader, can draw together all partners to collectively deliver value for money services that best reflect the needs of their communities.
Over the years, local government has aimed to do this and there are examples of good and innovative practice, where effective engagement has positively influenced the improvement of services. There is still someway to go towards a fully integrated public engagement approach, but the sharing of good practice, building on success and lessons learnt, will take us closer towards achieving this. We are currently working with authorities to capture good practice examples and sample documents that we will promote on these pages.
The WLGA work closely with Participation Cymru, who are funded by the Welsh Government, to support public service providers in their commitment to participation and citizen engagement.
Publications:
'Citizen-Centred Scrutiny’ - Engaging the Public in Overview and Scrutiny
The Equality Improvement Framework for Wales (New Version)
National Principles for Public Engagement in Wales
Practitioners’ Manual for Public Engagement (draft - 05/07/2011)
Useful Links:
Useful Blogs:
http://www.citizenspace.com/blog/tag/public-engagement/
For more information contact: Clover Rodrigues