Issue - meetings

Update on the Voice of Warwickshire residents' panel

Meeting: 15/12/2021 - Resources and Fire & Rescue Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 7)

7 Update on the Voice of Warwickshire Residents' Panel pdf icon PDF 300 KB

The Report is attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Spencer Payne (Service Manager, Business Intelligence) introduced the report and reminded members of the background to the item. There had been a lengthy recruitment process for potential members of the Residents’ Panel and an initial 800 applications. Following this some gaps had been identified that prevented the Panel being truly reflective of Warwickshire as a whole, such as certain age groups, ethnicities and geographical location. There had been a more focused recruitment process to facilitate this and there were now 890 recruits. Members’ attention was drawn to Appendix 1 of the report, which gave a breakdown of the potential members of the Panel. Spencer Payne said initial contacts would be made with those who had expressed an interest in the new year to explain more about the work of the Panel and the pilot work programme. The planned pilot exercise would then feed into a report that would come back to the Committee towards the end of next year.

 

Responding from a question from the Chair, Spencer Payne said elected Members in underrepresented areas had been contacted asking to help push the message out about the Panel. Relevant stakeholders and also been contacted and posts had been made on community groups’ social media pages in the relevant localities. Regard had also been given to ensure would-be recruits were residents and not members of any pressure or campaign groups, which could distort the views being put forward by the Panel. Rob Powell said another recruitment drive was likely to take place in the new year, taking into account the groups that were still underrepresented.

 

Responding to a question from Councillor Roberts, Spencer Payne said the benchmark figures were generally within 2-3 per cent of what one would expect to see represented. Councillor Boad said asking focus groups for their input into recruitment would be unlikely to work, as the final Panel would effectively be a single focus group. Councillor Phillips suggested contacting higher education colleges and Neighbourhood Watch groups might be a way of potentially recruiting new members. Spencer Payne said every Sixth Form and further education college had been contacted, in addition to children’s centres as they were used by young families.

 

Responding to a question from Councillor Singh Birdi, Spencer Payne said the ethnicity definitions used in the survey followed standard national guidelines. He said it was possible to use census data to potentially target demographic areas and groups but this information was now ten years old and the results of the 2021 census would not be available until March.

 

Councillor Tromans said contacting schools and colleges may not be that useful as only a handful of students attending would have turned 18 and thus be eligible to be on the Panel. He suggested a ready to go Facebook poster could be provided to all elected members in North Warwickshire and Nuneaton and Bedworth, for them to post in relevant local community groups.

 

Responding to a question from Councillor Butlin, Spencer Payne said no information had been requested  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7