What makes people believe they can influence local decisions? Tracey Murray and Pam Dixon looked at some of the solutions in the Birmingham City Council area
As we all settle down to deliver our selected 35 national indicators, do we need to take some time to understand what it is we are really measuring?
Some recent work in Birmingham suggests that with regard to attitudinal indicators, in particular, we cannot take for granted that people are really answering the question we have asked, or that we understand why they respond as they do.
Responses to national indicator 4 (NI4), which poses the question, ‘Do you feel you can influence decisions in your local area?’ suggest that we in Birmingham have been performing well.
Annual opinion survey results show a marked increase in positive responses over recent years. In 2005, it was 3%, but by 2006, that figure had risen to 37%. Last year, we hit 44%, compared with the national average of 38%.
So we can better understand the reasons behind this pattern, and increase our chances of further improving, Birmingham City Council has undertaken research to try and understand what influences people to respond positively to this indicator. This has included:
l analysis of national research
l comparison of our performance with other core cities
l analysis of the annual opinion survey results for 2006 and 2007
l a focus group involving a cross section of respondents to the 2007 survey. Much of our work has confirmed many of the national findings*. For example:
l as expected, people’s knowledge and experience of influencing decisions, and satisfaction with those opportunities, plays an important part in an individual’s response to the question
l how people are invited to participate in the decision-making process is important. People will be more likely to get involved if they are ‘personally invited’.
Surprisingly, however, there was also considerable differences from national findings. For instance:
l there was no geographical or socio-economic pattern to show those more likely to agree that they can influence decisions
l people living in less well-off but regenerated areas are more positive about their ability to influence – as well as those in more prosperous areas
l satisfaction with council services has little bearing. However, satisfaction with how a complaint is dealt with is important
l whether a person voted in elections does not seem to play any part in influencing their response to this question.
Overall, the strongest influence on a person’s response was their attitude towards their neighbourhood, in particular, their sense of community. The more satisfied people are with their area and the longer a person has lived in an area, the more likely the individual will agree they can influence decisions.
This supports a recent report by the Local Well-being Project – a joint project led by the Young Foundation, the IDeA, LSE, and the centre for Economic Performance (CEP) – which suggest that a sense of wellbeing is particularly influenced by neighbourly contact and social networks.
Are we asking the right questions?
It is recognised that attitudinal questions need to be phrased carefully to ensure the question itself does not influence the answer.
From the work we did, it became clear that some modification is needed to some of the place survey questions to ensure a common understanding of terms.
So how will we change what we do? Taking forward these findings will certainly keep us busy over future months. We want to test out these propositions further through forums and follow-up questions in surveys to confirm their validity and to monitor the impact of regeneration.
We need to ensure our empowerment strategies focus our NI4 delivery plan on developing stable communities with strong community spirit. We will ensure that opportunities for people to influence decision-making are well-publicised and understood, and develop our communication techniques so that they feel like personal invitations to be involved.
Finally, we aim to further develop good practice around complaint handling so people know and understand how they can ‘challenge’ policy decisions, if they wish. Of all the lessons learned, however, perhaps the most important is the need to be clear what sits behind the attitudinal indicators, otherwise we could fail to take the right action to improve them and, therefore, fail to meet the needs of local people. n
* National findings are summarised in the recent Communities in control: Real people, real power paper produced by Department of Communities and Local Government. Tracey Murray is senior policy officer, and Pam Dixon is consultation and programme manager at Birmingham City Council
Some recent work in Birmingham suggests that with regard to attitudinal indicators, in particular, we cannot take for granted that people are really answering the question we have asked, or that we understand why they respond as they do.
Responses to national indicator 4 (NI4), which poses the question, ‘Do you feel you can influence decisions in your local area?’ suggest that we in Birmingham have been performing well.
Annual opinion survey results show a marked increase in positive responses over recent years. In 2005, it was 3%, but by 2006, that figure had risen to 37%. Last year, we hit 44%, compared with the national average of 38%.
So we can better understand the reasons behind this pattern, and increase our chances of further improving, Birmingham City Council has undertaken research to try and understand what influences people to respond positively to this indicator. This has included:
l analysis of national research
l comparison of our performance with other core cities
l analysis of the annual opinion survey results for 2006 and 2007
l a focus group involving a cross section of respondents to the 2007 survey. Much of our work has confirmed many of the national findings*. For example:
l as expected, people’s knowledge and experience of influencing decisions, and satisfaction with those opportunities, plays an important part in an individual’s response to the question
l how people are invited to participate in the decision-making process is important. People will be more likely to get involved if they are ‘personally invited’.
Surprisingly, however, there was also considerable differences from national findings. For instance:
l there was no geographical or socio-economic pattern to show those more likely to agree that they can influence decisions
l people living in less well-off but regenerated areas are more positive about their ability to influence – as well as those in more prosperous areas
l satisfaction with council services has little bearing. However, satisfaction with how a complaint is dealt with is important
l whether a person voted in elections does not seem to play any part in influencing their response to this question.
Overall, the strongest influence on a person’s response was their attitude towards their neighbourhood, in particular, their sense of community. The more satisfied people are with their area and the longer a person has lived in an area, the more likely the individual will agree they can influence decisions.
This supports a recent report by the Local Well-being Project – a joint project led by the Young Foundation, the IDeA, LSE, and the centre for Economic Performance (CEP) – which suggest that a sense of wellbeing is particularly influenced by neighbourly contact and social networks.
Are we asking the right questions?
It is recognised that attitudinal questions need to be phrased carefully to ensure the question itself does not influence the answer.
From the work we did, it became clear that some modification is needed to some of the place survey questions to ensure a common understanding of terms.
So how will we change what we do? Taking forward these findings will certainly keep us busy over future months. We want to test out these propositions further through forums and follow-up questions in surveys to confirm their validity and to monitor the impact of regeneration.
We need to ensure our empowerment strategies focus our NI4 delivery plan on developing stable communities with strong community spirit. We will ensure that opportunities for people to influence decision-making are well-publicised and understood, and develop our communication techniques so that they feel like personal invitations to be involved.
Finally, we aim to further develop good practice around complaint handling so people know and understand how they can ‘challenge’ policy decisions, if they wish. Of all the lessons learned, however, perhaps the most important is the need to be clear what sits behind the attitudinal indicators, otherwise we could fail to take the right action to improve them and, therefore, fail to meet the needs of local people. n
* National findings are summarised in the recent Communities in control: Real people, real power paper produced by Department of Communities and Local Government. Tracey Murray is senior policy officer, and Pam Dixon is consultation and programme manager at Birmingham City Council
