CONSULTING, ENGAGING AND INVOLVING - OUR PROMISE:                                             

"We will work together for, and with, the people of Wiltshire, listening to, talking with and involving as many as practicable in shaping and reviewing outcomes for our communities and service users."

In making this Promise, we acknowledge:

• the expertise of the voluntary and community sector in harnessing the knowledge and energy of local people and how, by working together, we can bring about better results for all.
• that by engaging people in a timely manner and giving them ownership of a process, both sectors can maximise effectiveness in shaping services, whilst enhancing trust, working relationships and healthy partnerships.

How we communicate and how we consult with one another is a vital part of how we work effectively together. This Promise is an agreement between us about how we will work to consult, involve and engage with each other and our communities.

For the voluntary and community sector, consultation presents an opportunity to bring its knowledge, experience and expertise to bear on policy and services on behalf of the people and causes it works for. The sector will be able to influence the design and delivery of services to people and communities in Wiltshire confident in a framework that facilitates inclusive representation and consultation.

The public sector will engage with the voluntary and community sector in a range of appropriate partnership areas such as: involvement, representation and voice; developing policy and putting it into practice; strategy and forward planning; funding; charges and fees; service development and changes; new services; performance monitoring and evaluation of services.

Involvement covers lots of different activities. The degree of involvement will be proportionate and take into account the breadth and depth of impact on both sectors and our communities.

Joint undertakings:

We all undertake to:

• Respect the confidentiality of information, observing relevant confidentiality and data protection policies and legislation;
• Ensure any involvement activities are inclusive, taking account of the needs and interests of all communities, in line with our Equalities Promise;
• Prepare consultation documents that are appropriate to the audience and which seek to support and enable individuals and organisations who wish to be engaged irrespective of experience and knowledge;
• Support the development of mechanisms to enable inclusion;
• Establish a way of reviewing and evaluating involvement activities;
• Recognise that communication is a two-way process and means listening as well as talking;
• Share significant changes or progress so that partner agencies are not taken by surprise.

Voluntary and Community Sector undertakings:

The Wiltshire Compact voluntary and community sector partners undertake to:

• Pursue recognised good practise amongst its members in its representational work, ensuring representation and voice is effective;
• Include members, service users and stakeholders in any involvement activities, such as sharing information or consulting with them;
• Ensure communication structures for liaison and representation are fully utilised;
• Recognise the limits of its own influence;
• Differentiate between the voluntary and community sector organisation’s role in representing an interest group and its role as a service provider. To identify issues for the organisation as a service provider separately from issues affecting members or users;
• Report the views represented fairly and accurately;

Public sector undertakings:

The Wiltshire Compact public sector partners undertake to:

• Consult and involve the voluntary and community sector in a timely and planned way on issues, whether national, regional, or local, that are likely to affect it at the earliest stage of policy development;
• Involve the voluntary and community sector in planning, delivering and reviewing their services;
• Choose a method of involvement with the voluntary and community sector that is relevant and appropriate to the issues and that enables a meaningful response;
• Take account of financial constraints on the voluntary and community sector in being involved;
• Give consultees enough information and time to respond – a standard period of 12 weeks. Shorter periods may be required but these instances will be kept to an absolute minimum;
• Ensure that where the standard consultation period cannot be met, all documents will specify why a shorter time has been set;
• Provide timely feedback following involvement, and be willing to change proposals as a result of what has been learned;
• Be clear about the remit and scope of involvement, the process involved, and the method required to influence the outcomes;
• Involve all relevant voluntary and community groups through representation structures using infrastructure support groups to reach the widest range of individuals and community groups.
                                                                                                                                   

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE WILTSHIRE COMPACT HERE.                                                                                                                                                                                         back to the top