Emerging Good Practices in Budget Consultation

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Maurizio

The Open Budget Survey is a biennial report produced by The International Budget Partnership and is the only independent, comparative, and regular measure of budget transparency and accountability around the world.

Open Budget Survey 2012

The 2012 survey featured a new section on public engagement in the budget process and the results show some interesting practices. Below are the countries that are being particularly proactive and innovative with their citizen engagement practices.

South Korea
Following an economic crisis in 1997,  the public demanded a greater voice in budget decision making. Huge steps were taken, ensuring South Korea was the top performer among the countries surveyed in 2012.

Among its list of measures, the Ministry of Finance officials take field trips to learn about realities on the ground from local government officials and beneficiaries of public programs.  Widespread internet services and social media also allow citizens to voice their opinions on budget measures.  In addition, the Citizen Audit Request System in South Korea allows citizens to apply for special investigations by the national audit office into government programs that are particularly important.

Trinidad and Tobago
The Ministry of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago holds “post-budget forums” where key focus groups are able to give their views on the budget, allowing all members of the public to call or send text messages to the Minister of Finance. This information is shared through social media platforms, as well as their website.

Botswana
A budget pitso (or consultation forum) has been introduced to enable the public to be part of the budget process. This “pitso” has its origins in the community participation “kgotla” system, which is one of the oldest forms of public participation in governance in the world.

Germany
The parliament’s budget committee holds public hearings in which testimony from economists, trade associations, trade unions, employer federations, and civil service employee associations, among others, is heard. The budget committee determines the focus of these talks.

South Africa
The South African Money Bill Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act requires parliament to hold public hearings on the fiscal framework and revenue proposals. Interested parties are invited to make oral presentations during the hearings.

Given this encouraging progress, the survey also shows that many other organisations around the world can do much more to involve the public in all stages of the budget process.  These institutions can learn from the few but promising examples, like those above, of innovative practices designed to increase public engagement in budget decision making.

To find out more on improving your organisation’s budget consultation process, contact me on 0845 638 1845 or email maurizio@delib.net.

Posted in Budget consultation news |

15 ways to promote your Budget Simulator

Posted on February 4, 2013 by KateLT

Running a budget consultation online is a great move and we want to help Councils and residents get the best return on their investment. Below are a series of tried and tested ideas that will help you gain a great response with your Budget Simulator.

First steps

1. Place a direct link on your Council’s home page to the Simulator
A seemingly obvious thing to point out, but this is an easy way to boost the success of your consultation. The home page is invariably the busiest on a Council’s website. Even if a resident is visitin for some other reason, they might see the link to your budget consultation and click through to it.

Cumbria Council's link to their Budget Simulator

2. Organize a press briefing with local press
All publicity is good publicity and many residents are likely to read a local newspaper every day. Covering all local channels of communication available to you is the best way to ensure a wide variety of people have an opportunity to hear about and use your Budget Simulator. If they run the story, ask them to link to your Simulator from their website – this will boost your SEO.

3. Run a news story in your community newsletter
Residents often expect to hear from Councils through newsletters – which makes it one of the best ways to let your residents know about your Simulator. Be sure to include the URL of the Simulator and tell people the benefits of engaging on the budget.

4. Put up a banner at council offices reminding people about the Simulator
Council staff tend to be some of the most actively engaged of all local residents. Ensuring that staff and visitors know about the consultation is a great way to boost your response levels. They’ll probably go home and tell their friends and family about the Simulator, too!

Making the most of in-house resources

5. Offer a prize-draw for all participants
It doesn’t need to be something grand or expensive, but offering a small incentive is a good way to show your appreciation for people getting involved. Good examples are vouchers to spend at a music store or supermarket – something everyone could do with.

6. Email your Citizen’s Panel
Citizen’s Panels are fantastic – a pool of actively engaged individuals that are ready and willing to let you know their thoughts on the Council’s actions. Be sure to let them know early so that they can spread the word further for you. They’ll appreciate the opportunity to engage using something different.

Screenshot of email to citizen panel

7. Distribute leaflets to Council tenants, local voluntary and charity organisations, visitors to local libraries and Parish Councils
Any location where local residents congregate offers an opportunity for engagement. By distributing a small leaflet detailing that a Budget Consultation is being held, where they can access it and why they might want to contribute, you can boost the number and diversity of respondents. Promoting your Simulator at local libraries has another benefit, too: people who may not have a computer at home may use a library PC to participate in the Simulator.

8. Send an email to members of your Council mailing list
A mailing list represents a bank of individuals who have opted-in to be contacted about council affairs. The great thing about contacting people by email is that they are only one click away from accessing your Budget Simulator – making it easier for them to get involved.

Contacting local networks – spreading the word

9. Send an online news release to local media and blogs
You’d be surprised what a quick trawl of the web can find. Most areas have bloggers that discuss local issues. Whatever their blog covers, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in linking to your Budget Simulator. Pop them an email and ask them if they’d like to link to it from their blog – again, this will help to boost SEO for the consultation.

Added boosters

10. Post link from the Council Twitter and/or Facebook account
Social media usage in government is on the rise. With many people including a Facebook visit every time they log on to the internet, it’s important to link people to your online consultation from your Council’s social media accounts. If you don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account, it’s time to make one!

Barnet Council tweeted the link to their Simulator

11. Demonstrate the Simulator at town hall meetings or universities
Using a projector to display and demonstrate your Budget Simulator has been done before to great effect. It’s both a great visual aid to discussing budget decisions, and a great chance to talk to people face to face about how they can have their say on the budget.

12. Consider using Google Adwords
You can run a short term campaign for people searching for your Council’s name + e.g “finance” or “budget”. There might be a whole host of reasons people are searching for this term, and with a little work you can ensure that the link to your Budget Simulator is at the top of the search rankings every time.

Following success

13. Use Analytics or search your Budget Simulator’s URL
Being able to see where you’re receiving traffic from helps you make the most out of your exposure on the web. Maybe there’s an opportunity to engage with the conversation  on a website that you didn’t even know existed. With something like Google Analytics, you can do this for free.

14. Consult on meaningful issues
Your residents are likely to feel more empowered to discuss the budget when the issues are of relative importance. The more people that feel passionate about the areas available for consultation, the higher the response levels your Simulator will achieve.

15.Demonstrate how you’ve listened
By including previous consultation findings and the actions that your Council took to address those issues, the more residents will feel that their contribution to the Simulator will bring about benefits to the community.

Want to download this guide? Click here to get the PDF.

Posted in Budget Simulator tips & tricks, News about Budget Simulator | Tagged , , , , , |

How Police Authorities use Budget Simulator

Posted on January 5, 2012 by JoannaH

Budget Simulator has recently been used by a number of Police Authorities looking to consult on their budgets. Here’s how we’ve customised the Budget Simulator to fit with their specific needs:

Customised Sliders

The sliders have been customised so respondents can give their views on  a number of different issues relating to policing. There is also the option of detailing how much or what proportion of the budget is spent on these issues to help respondents in their decision.

Explaining Issues

As policing issues can be quite complex, clicking the ‘i’ button next to each issue gives a detailed description to what the issue covers. This should help respondents make more informed decisions using the Budget Simulator, therefore increasing the quality of the responses.

Police Authorities which have used Budget Simulator for their budget consultations include Derbyshire and Greater Manchester. To learn more about the background of these consultations, have a read of blog posts about the Derbyshire Police Authority and Greater Manchester Police Authority Budget Simulators.

For tips and tricks on promoting online budget consultations, have a read of Delib’s Scribd document on 15 Ways To Maximise Participation With Your Budget Consultation or a recent blog post on Even More Ways To Maximise Participation With Your Budget Consultation.

For more information on using Budget Simulator as part of your budget setting process please contact Ben Fowkes on 0845 638 1848.

Posted in News about Budget Simulator, Who's using Budget Simulator? |

Even More Ways To Maximise Participation With Your Budget Consultation

Posted on December 19, 2011 by JoannaH

Delib recently put together a 15 Ways To Maximise Participation With Your Budget Consultation guide, which included interesting ways to promote your simulator. Some of the best ones featured in the guide were:

Offering a Prize-Draw
A small incentive can help drive participation numbers and can increase exposure as other participants spread the news via word-of-mouth and social media. The Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) chose to hold a prize-draw for £100 worth of shopping vouchers for those who used its simulator, which was promoted on their official Twitter and Facebook page.

Official Websites
Posting a prominent link on your authority’s homepage an easy way to get interested local citizens to engage with your simulator. Further online promotion can be through social media channels, as done by Brighton & Hove, who encouraged the use of the #budgetbh hashtag on Twitter to talk about the budget consultation.

Even more innovative ways which you can promote your Budget Simulator are:

Cardboard Standees
Life-size cardboard standees are a great promotional tool as they’re inexpensive, easy to install and eyecatching. The Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) are using fifty 5ft-tall cardboard cutouts of their personalised Budget Simulator character placed in local authority areas to promote their simulator.

QR Codes
QR codes allow smartphone users to use their camera to read a code which directs them to a specific website.

Southend-on-Sea placed QR codes for their Budget Simulator on local bus stops but they can be placed practically anywhere. One easy way to utilise this technology is adding the QR code on traditional promotional materials, such as flyers or magazine adverts. To learn more, read the post on the blog post on Southend-on-Sea’s use of QR codes and Mashable’s guide on how to use and make your own.

Press Releases
Press releases in local literature and websites are a simple and effective way to promote your simulator. Alongside the traditional method of advertising in community newsletters and council literature, Southend-on-Sea also managed to get the websites of local schools and blogs of Councillors talking about its Budget Simulator.

For more information on using Budget Simulator as part of your budget setting process please contact Ben Fowkes on 0845 638 1848.

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Argyll and Bute Council use Budget Simulator as part of their budget setting process

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Rowena

Argyll and Bute Council have just finished their budget setting process for the year.  The Council used a variety of feedback mechanisms to inform the budget setting process including allowing residents to have their say through their own Budget Simulator.

The various methods of consultation used included:

  • A video available for the public to watch prior to submitting their views.
  • Linking their Budget Simulator from the Councils’ home page and allowing residents to submit their own budget.
  • Live public meetings at various council chambers to encourage residents to have their say.
  • Live web chats with the Council Leader and other senior Councillors.

For more information on using Budget Simulator as part of your budget setting process please contact Ben Fowkes on 0845 638 1848.

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Brighton and Hove City Council use Budget Simulator as part of their wider budget consultation process

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Rowena

Brighton and Hove City Council are currently considering their budget proposal for the next two years and Budget Simulator is being used as a key indicator within this process.

With coverage on BBC News and planned consultation around the use of their Budget Simulator, Brighton and Hove City Council are consulting through the following methods:

1) An online Budget Simulator which currently has 657 completed responses with over 2700 people visiting the site.

2) Ensuring local residents know how to contact their local Councillors throughout the budget consultation coverage.

3) Live question and answer session with a Local Councillor following the option for residents to submit any questions to the Council using their live web casting page.

4) Opening the conversation through the use of Twitter.

Brighton and Hove City Council use Budget Simulator as part of a wider consultation process

This is just one example of how Budget Simulator can be used to supplement a wider budget consultation process.

For more information on Budget Simulator please contact Ben on 0845 680 0575

Posted in News about Budget Simulator, Who's using Budget Simulator? | Tagged , , , , |

Derbyshire Police Authority Budget Simulator goes live

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Rowena

Derbyshire Police Authority Budget Simulator is now live to the public :)

The Police Authority set the budget for Derbyshire Police Force, and are using the simulator to give local stakeholders the opportunity to make their own funding decisions. Through using their own customised Budget Simulator, Derbyshire Police Authority are hoping local stakeholders will help inform their budget setting decisions.

The police authority are consulting on 12 different areas and service headers range from Local Policing to Police Intelligence. In terms of promoting the simulator, Derbyshire Police Authority already have a link in place to the simulator from their homepage. Further plans to promote the simulator include highlighting the consultation period at up and coming public meetings.

For more information on Budget Simulator or to book a demonstration please call Ben or Gill on 0845 680 0575 or email ben.fowkes@delib.co.uk or gill.crea@delib.co.uk.

Posted in Budget consultation news, Who's using Budget Simulator? |

Promote your Budget Simulator through QR codes

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Rowena

Here at Delib we are always looking for the best ways to increase participation through our various suite of apps. One of our developers recently investigated using QR codes as part of maximising stakeholder participation. QR codes can also easily be used to help promote Budget Simulators and its now possible to create them within a matter of minutes.

Southend on Sea are currently using Budget Simulator to consult on Budget Cuts and are using QR codes as an integral part of their Consultation process by adding them to posters on bus stops:

Interestingly Ofcom recently announced that over a third of adults now use smartphone technology making the use of QR codes especially timely within the Budget Consultation process.

For more information on Budget Simulator or for a demonstration please contact Ben or Gill on 0845 680 0575

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Budget-setting: it’s more than just cuts. PLUS how can you involve the public?

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Andy

Cuts have been the background to budget consultation in recent years. When cuts must be made, it’s obviously essential to engage the public in budget setting.

However it’s a worthwhile reminder that even with cuts, public sector organisations – especially local authorities, NHS, fire and police – oversee significant spending of taxpayer funds.

Public sector budgets are a large proportion of local GDP, and will remain so. They’re the means by which essential services are provided, and they can be significant drivers of employment and economic growth in an area.

Public involvement in local budget setting is both important and achievable.

I recently found three useful pieces on approaches to setting local budgets, which are shared below – followed by tips and tricks for getting the most from a budget-setting process.

Cook County (Illinois, USA)
First, a trip overseas. I found this really interesting budgeting process “Look at Cook” from Cook County (Illinois, USA)

“Every year our Cook County government budgets and spends more than $3 billion. The County’s budget impacts our lives every day. All of its funding comes from you—your sales and property taxes, your purchase fees on gas, and other goods. All of its spending exists to support you too.”

Look at Cook is a nice site showing the potential to link spending data and budget consultation. Particularly effective is the clarity of the message about the amounts spent and where they go. It would be great to see approaches like this from the UK (know any good examples?).
Look at cook

Community Budgets
Back in the UK, Community Budgets have received a lot of attention recently. Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) have a primer on Community Bugets.

“A Community Budget gives local public service partners the freedom to work together to redesign services around the needs of citizens, improving outcomes and reducing duplication and waste.”

DCLG also have a dedicated Community Budgets site, with weekly updates on progress and development in Community Budgets.
Community budgets

Placed-based budgeting
Also interesting is this piece on place-based budgeting from Office for Public Management (OPM) – discussing localism in budget setting, and the need for strong, transparent governance.

“The basic idea of place-based budgeting is that local government has the responsibility for making decisions about how best to deploy taxpayer money and public resources….local government will need to demonstrate good governance so taxpayers know that public resources are being used properly.”

Read more about place-based budgeting on the OPM blog.

Tips & tricks for involving the public in your budget-setting process
An online process is arguably the most cost-effective mechanism to involve people in budgets. It’s convenient and easy for the public to participate in an online process, and it matches the expectation that services will be delivered online.

For the staff who run the budget consultation an online process also has several benefits, including convenience of working with the data, which is already in an electronic format. Key metrics are also available on demand during the budgeting process.

Walsall Council and South Yorkshire Police Authority both found an online process with Budget Simulator to be highly effective for engaging a wider audience with the budget process.

Online, offline, or both?
Walsall Council identified that an online process got a much higher response rate than a previous paper survey. However, it’s worth maintaining an offline process based around a paper consultation document (or printable PDF), as this provides an additional means of participating.

A paper consultation document can be made available on request to people (saving the cost of mailing it to all households). It can also be used at events and roadshows.

Budget Simulator can be provided in an offline format which matches the format of the online process, providing additional rigour and minimising the costs of data entry from the offline version.

Make sure online processes are widely accessible
There are accessibility standards that must be complied with when running a public sector process online. Failing to comply with these standards is unfair to those who need the support that the standards provide. Failing to use an accessible process exposes an organisation to legal risk as it violates equalities legislation. Failing to be widely accessible also reduces the cost-effectiveness of an online process as it limits the number of people who can participate quickly and easily.

Budget Simulator has been built in compliance with web accessibility standards (see our Accessibility Policy), and is designed to be usable by a wide range of people including those with older computers/software, those who don’t have broadband, and those who have an impairment or disability. It’s also usable on smartphones (including iPhone and Android).

Maximise participation
We’ve been helping councils and government departments run budget consultations since 2005.  Based on this experience we’ve put together a participation guide with 15 tried and tested ideas for promoting your budget consultation and encouraging people to take part.
Ways to promote your budget consultation: Twitter; mailing list. Links to PDF of 15 ways to promote your consutlation

Budget Simulator Case Studies
Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) have recently completed a consultation using Budget Simulator to influence their new Policing budget in Greater Manchester for 2011/12. Read the case study.

Walsall Council recently extended their Budget Simulator license to allow local residents to have their say on spending priorities for the 2012/13 financial year.  Find out more.

If you’d like a free demo of Budget Simulator, or just to discuss running budget consultations online, please call Ben or Gill on 0845 638 1848 or email gillian.crea@delib.co.uk

Posted in Budget Simulator tips & tricks, Budget consultation news, News about Budget Simulator, Who's using Budget Simulator? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment |

Wallsal Council extend their Budget Simulator license to inform 2012/13 spending priorities

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Rowena

Walsall Council recently extended their Budget Simulator license to allow local residents to have their say on spending priorities for the 2012/13 financial year.

As part of the coalition government’s commitment to reduce public spending, Walsall Council, along with all councils throughout England, continue to face spending cuts which means that decisions need to be made when prioritising allocated spending.

Following a successful 2011/12 budget consultation, Walsall Council used the results of over 500 resident’s views to make an informed decision on spending cuts. Respondents chose to cut spending on planning and building control whilst increasing spending on community safety. Feedback from the consultation was then used to inform the draft spending proposal.

Walsall Council have chosen to consult on 17 areas of their budget proposal for the 2012/13 financial year.  The results will then feed into a more detailed programme of consultation which will take place between September and October.

If you’d like a free demo of Budget Simulator, or just to discuss running budget consultations online, please call on 0845 638 1848 or email gillian.crea@delib.co.uk

Posted in News about Budget Simulator, Who's using Budget Simulator? |