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Public Participation at Council Committee Meetings consultation

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This consultation has now closed.

We would like to thank all respondents for taking the time to take part and provide feedback as part of the consultation exercise. You can find out  how we have acted on what you told  us under 'We asked, you said we did' below. Further details broken down by each theme  can found in this document.



Have your say on the proposals to improve the ways in which you can get involved in the councils decision-making meetings.

Overview 

The council wants to put the community at the heart of what the council does.

As part of the council’s ambitions to

We would like to thank all respondents for taking the time to take part and provide feedback as part of the consultation exercise. You can find out  how we have acted on what you told  us under 'We asked, you said we did' below. Further details broken down by each theme  can found in this document.



Have your say on the proposals to improve the ways in which you can get involved in the councils decision-making meetings.

Overview 

The council wants to put the community at the heart of what the council does.

As part of the council’s ambitions to create a new relationship with residents and drive greater community engagement in the work of the authority, we are undertaking a major review of public participation options at council meetings.

We have already started on that journey with the work undertaken at Hendon Town Hall this year to enable full webcasting of meetings, helping to bring local democracy to residents in the most accessible way, and agreeing a new Community Participation Strategy that demonstrates our ambition to be a listening council with residents at the centre of our decision making.


Our next steps on this journey 

The next steps are looking at changing our system of governance from a committee system to an Executive System of governance from May 2023.

The Executive System means that most decisions in the council are taken by the single-party Executive (or Cabinet) either in the Cabinet meeting or by individual Cabinet Members. The Cabinet is made up of Councillors from the party with the most seats on the council.

The Executive is held to account for their policies and decisions by Overview and Scrutiny Committees. The council will still retain some of the existing committees such as planning, licensing and audit.


What we are seeking your views on

Alongside the move to an Executive system, we are reviewing and improving the ways that you can get involved in council decision-making arrangements at our council meetings. We would like your views on the current methods that you can participate in through our formal decision-making meetings, as well as some new proposals we are putting forward.

Our new proposals include:

  • enabling more people to get involved with the council decision-making process,
  • introducing deputations at committee and Full Council meetings from groups of people on issues,
  • introducing Public Questions to the Leader at Full Council meetings
  • lowering the threshold for petitions to be reported at council decision-making meetings
  • participation in scrutiny of the council.

We also want to hear from you about ways that we can make all our local democracy options more accessible, and about what further changes that could enable you to play a bigger part in the work and decision making of the council.

To find out more please read our consultation document.


Your views are important to us

We welcome views from residents as well as people who study, work or have a business in the borough. We also welcome feedback from local organisations and community groups.

Views from all stakeholders are welcome on our proposals to enhance participation at our council Committee meetings.

Even if you have not participated in the council decision-making process in the past, we still want your views. Your views will help us understand how we can make the council’s committee decision-making process more accessible to all our communities.

We hope this consultation will engage local groups and residents in a continuing dialogue about public participation and engagement through the council’s decision-making meetings.


How to have your say:

Complete our online questionnaire

We are keen to hear your views on our proposals. Please read our consultation document. and then have your say by completing our online questionnaire. 

If you would like to request a paper questionnaire or another format please:

  • email governanceservice@barnet.gov.uk or telephone 020 8359 7113.
  • alternatively you can write to us at Governance Service, Assurance Group, London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

If you would like someone to help you complete the questionnaire or need more information, please contact us using one of the above methods.


What happens after the consultation closes?

The findings from this consultation will inform the recommendations put to Full Council on changes to the public participation rules in the Council’s Constitution. We will also use this feedback to inform an Equalities Impact Assessment prior to any decisions on public participation being made.

We will publish the results of the consultation, our decision and how we are acting on the results of the consultation on this web page in March 2023.

This consultation has now closed.

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked for your views on the current ways you can get involved in the council decision making process at council committee and the proposed additional ways for participating at formal decision-making bodies.

    Our aim was to improve and expand the current offer for participation in council decision making meetings. The feedback from the consultation was utilised to help shape the rules in the council constitution on participating in the council decision making process.

    The consultation document was split into two parts, the first focused on the current arrangements for public participation. The second part set out the proposed new approach for public participation at full council and committee meetings. Further details about the consultation are set out in the consultation document.

    You said

    We received 53 responses to our consultation on public participation at council committee meetings. Overall, the responses to the consultation demonstrates support towards enhancing participation at council committee meetings.

    Key themes from the consultation feedback were supportive towards enabling:

    • more people to get involved with the Council decision-making process
    • Public Questions to be raised at other council meetings such as at Full Council and Cabinet
    • lowering the threshold for Petitions to be raised at Council decision-making bodies
    • use of the option to raise Deputations (for groups of people to raise a matter at Council decision making meetings)
    • participation in scrutiny of the Council.

    The detailed breakdown and findings of the consultation are set out in the findings report which is accessible via link the here.

    We did

    We reviewed your feedback from the consultation and utilised the information to develop arrangements to broaden the opportunities for public participation at council decision making meetings.

    Following the analysis on the results of the consultation, a number of arrangements were drafted and subsequently approved at the Full Council meeting on 28 February. The new arrangements will come into effect as of May 2023 as part of the new Council Constitution and include the following processes outlined below.

    • we will adopt the word ‘citizen’ in the context of participation at council committee meetings which includes residents living in Barnet as well as those people who study, work or have businesses in Barnet
    • as part of the Governance Review project arrangements will create a dedicated council democracy webpage to help you understand how they can participate in council decision making by setting out the options including for deputations, petitions, public questions and overview and scrutiny involvement
    • to promote further engagement in council decision making, the arrangements for Public Questions will be expanded to other council meetings such as Council, Cabinet and Committee meetings
    • a new arrangement for deputations (signed by between 5 and 24 people) will be embedded in the council’s governance arrangements
    • we will lower the threshold for petition signatures to be discussed at council meetings and therefore easier for citizens to receive responses.

    The full details of the new arrangements for participating in Council decision making meeting were approved at the Full Council meeting on 28 February 2023 and can be accessed here.