Developing a Highland Citizens' Panel
13th December 2009
The Highland Council is to form a Highland Citzens' Panel to gauge representative views of the Highland population on Council services and spending priorities.
The Council will switch the current spending on externally commissioning its public performance survey each year to funding the panel and surveying it instead. The panel will exist alongside other methods of asking the public their views including: ward forums; liaison with community councils and community groups; various customer surveys; and supporting specific arrangements such as tenant participation; Highland Youth Voice and Parent Forums in schools.
The move is seen as reinforcing the Council's commitment to engaging and improving the Council's communication with the public. The panel could also be used by public sector partners.
Panels will be made up from a sample of residents from the local population, who have agreed to participate in consultation activity on an ongoing basis. The panel aims to be representative of the population and for Highland is likely to consist of around 1400 people, gathering views from a representative range of people living across the Highlands.
Panel members will be asked to complete postal, on-line or telephone surveys or participate in focus groups on specific issues, such as budgets.
Councillor Carolyn Wilson, Chairman of the Resources Committee, said: "Citizens' panels are particularly useful for local councils as they can provide assurance to members that the views provided are representative of the population as a whole. By engaging panel members for more than one year, views over time can be tracked. Panels tend to generate high response rates to consultations and are a quick and easy resource to access."
Already 24 of the 32 Scottish local councils operate a panel.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Yesterday, Thursday 16 May, representatives from the tourism sector in the Highlands gathered in Inverness to take part in a Sustainable Tourism Strategy Workshop hosted by The Highland Council. The meeting, which was well attended with representatives from across Highland and different interests, follows the launch of the Council's public consultation on its Draft Sustainable Tourism Strategy.
First Minister John Swinney has confirmed the opening of a £1.5 million fund to support councils in removing the impact of school meal debt from families across the country. Mr Swinney said this commitment will help ensure no child is penalised for struggling to pay for school meals as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Todays Audit Scotland report Local government budgets 2024/25 reveals how dire council budgets are. This makes many more cuts in services likely in coming years.
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.