Assessing Priorities with Shrinking Budgets
The implications of the Comprehensive Spending Review, and the context that this creates for setting budgets in local areas, makes it increasingly important to understand the priorities and needs of local communities. Reductions to local budgets will require changes to the provision of services, and it is helpful to involve stakeholders directly to bring their perspectives to these difficult decisions.
In light of this, it is appropriate to reconsider the way in which residents, stakeholders and staff are engaged in discussions about the provision of services in the context of local budgets.
Most importantly, making savings of huge proportions is a societal project, and a normal salami slicing budget exercise will not help you understand how to redesign what you do. The reductions your council is seeking involve a realignment of the role of government in society, and therefore require more rigorous and inclusive approaches. The views of different groups need to be carefully balanced and given sensitive interpretation.
This might mean holding deliberative workshops, running a quantitative survey, consulting with residents, stakeholders or staff online or all of the above. It is important to consider what you are doing as an organisation to ensure that the challenging decisions benefit from the insight of the different perspective held by these groups
Ipsos MORI has a long record of running robust quantitative exercises and deliberative workshops, and recently we have been reflecting on this experience and developing new approaches to the discussions that need to be taking place in the current financial environment.
We speak at conferences and seminars and can offer training on these issues. We have also recently published our Top Ten tips on discussing priority-setting with the public. If you would like to speak to us about our experience or how we might help you engage with your residents on these issues just send us an email.
Please call Kirstin McLarty on 020 7347 3000.