This Thursday, the Finance Scrutiny Committee of Manchester City Council will discuss a report about the Council’s “consultations”.
The report, which was asked for by councillors, looks at three questions
- An explanation of the different consultation models in operation across the Council
- What the different consultation models are, how they work and what the Council does with responses to them
- What happens to responses that are not relevant to the consultation which they have been submitted for, but are still relevant to the Council
As far as it goes the report seems okay (though other people’s opinions may differ).
However what is NOT being discussed is;
- What do people who have taken part in consultations think of them? (hint – many think the consultations are rubber stamp exercises)
- How do other towns and cities organise their consultations, and what, gasp, might Manchester learn from them?
- How might Manchester more effectively be able to use social media and to engage with younger people?
- What do charities and think-tanks like Unlock Democracy, Democratic Audit and Public- I , talk about local and the Centre for Public Scrutiny – to name but five– think of Manchester’s efforts?
What would be GREAT is if a group of councillors was willing to work both with officers and citizens to produce a report that answered those questions.
Will it happen? Only if citizens push for it…
The meeting, held at Manchester Town Hall, starts at 10am and is open to the public.
The following elected members make up the Finance Scrutiny Committee:
- Councillor Nasrin Ali
- Councillor Mark Clayton
- Councillor Joan Davies
- Councillor John Flanagan (Chair)
- Councillor Mark Hackett
- Councillor June Hitchen
- Councillor Daniel Gillard
- Councillor Carl Ollerhead
- Councillor Luke Raikes
- Councillor Nilofar Siddiqi
- Councillor Matt Strong
- Councillor Mary Watson
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